About Our Non-Invasive Cardiac Treatments
At BID Plymouth, non invasive cardiac procedures are used to evaluate patients with cardiac risk factors, visualize patient heart structures, and assess how the heart tolerates exercise. Two main types of procedures we perform are Cardiac Stress Tests and Echocardiograms.
Cardiac Stress Tests
Exercise cardiac stress tests, nuclear exercise cardiac stress tests, and nuclear pharmacological cardiac stress tests are the three types of cardiac stress tests we perform.
Cardiac stress tests are conducted for various reasons including:
- To evaluate the cause of chest pain or shortness of breath
- To measure the strength and perfusion of the heart after a heart attack or and/or for patients with cardiac risk factors such as a family history, hypertension and high cholesterol
- To measure how the heart tolerates exercise (stress)
Echocardiograms
Transthoracic echocardiograms and transesophageal echocardiograms (TEE) are the two types of echocardiograms we perform.
Echocardiograms are conducted for various reasons including:
- To visualize the heart in motion
- To determine if the heart valves are functioning properly
- To measure the size of the heart chambers, major vessels, and the thickness of the heart walls