Seeing a Broken Heart

By Rita Hess

Unclogging a drain is hard to do if you can't see the obstruction! Physicians trying to diagnose heart disease would have a similar problem without sophisticated machines that help them spot potential problems.

During an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), electrodes placed on the chest provide information about heart rate and rhythm by measuring the heart's electrical impulses.

Much like a boat's depth finder, echocardiography uses sound waves to produce images. It can reveal narrow spots in the coronary artery and is often used to diagnose or monitor valve disease, congenital heart abnormalities, fluid around the heart, damaged heart muscles, tumors, or blood clots.

A nuclear scan involves injecting a special radioactive material into a vein so doctors can see how well blood moves through the heart. Pictures taken before and after exercise show whether blood pumps properly through the heart's chambers.

Computerized tomography (commonly called a CT scan) produces quick reliable snapshots of the arteries. During the procedure, a computer captures images created by X-ray beams passing through the body. Sometimes dye is used to make pictures clearer.

MRI is short for magnetic resonance imaging. During an MRI, a powerful magnetic field reveals very detailed images so your doctor can view your heart from different angles.

An angiogram (coronary catheterization) sometimes requires an overnight hospital stay. After being sedated, a dye is injected into a patient to show where arteries are narrowing or blocked.

Each case is different. Your physician may order one or more procedure depending on your symptoms and circumstances. If the test results indicate heart disease, you'll be relieved to know that treatment methods are extremely sophisticated, too. In fact, they are sometimes easier to fix than a clogged drain!

March 2002