Heart screening and imaging

Your blood pressure is a key indicator of heart health, essentially showing how hard your heart is working to pump blood through your arteries. Based on current blood pressure guidelines set by the American Heart Association, 120/80 is generally considered a normal blood pressure for adults. A reading of 130/80 or higher is classified as hypertension, or high blood pressure.

Having high blood pressure means your heart muscle is pumping harder than normal for long periods of time. This additional pressure in your arteries can lead to serious health conditions, including:

• Arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats)
• Artery damage
• Cardiac arrest
• Eye damage
• Heart attacks
• Impaired blood flow
• Kidney damage
• Strokes (cerebrovascular accidents)

Calcium can form into plaque, causing buildup in the arteries, which is a condition known as coronary artery disease (CAD). This condition can lead to a sudden heart attack. However, CAD can be detected early with a coronary calcium scan, enabling faster treatments.

Coronary calcium scans

The coronary calcium scan is a simple, noninvasive diagnostic tool that provides critical information about the potential of future heart complications. It uses X-ray technology to capture images of your heart and surrounding arteries, allowing us to determine a score that reflects the degree and extent of calcium deposits in the walls of your coronary arteries.

In our cardiac catheterization labs (also referred to as the "cath labs"), we perform a variety of catheter-based procedures to identify and treat cardiovascular diseases. These types of procedures provide us with a clear view of your blood vessels, enabling both a diagnosis and an opportunity to provide interventional care for acute heart disease treatment and future heart disease prevention.

Our advanced EP labs perform automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) insertions, AFib ablations and other complex procedures.

We also offer EP studies to evaluate your heart’s electrical system to determine if a heart arrhythmia is present. If an arrhythmia is present, the study indicates where exactly in your heart the it is occurring, so our electrophysiologists can suggest proper treatment.

Noninvasive vascular assessments (NIVA) are exams that use sound waves to obtain images of the inside of the body. With these images, our radiologists are able to evaluate organ motion, including the movement of your heart valves and overall blood flow. Typically, we use leading-edge imaging technology to perform NIVAs, which allow us to diagnose vascular diseases and plan vascular surgical procedures.

Ankle-brachial index (ABI) testing

An ABI test compares the blood pressure at your ankle to the blood pressure at your arm so your doctor can review your blood flow. This test is typically used to check for PAD. ABI tests may be:

• Performed during exercise
• Performed without exercise
• Segmental (measured at various points in the body

A stress test is used to see how well your heart works, particularly when it is working hard, as it does during exercise. These tests are often used as a form of early heart attack care, predicting whether you possess a serious risk of a future heart attack.

Cardiac stress test

A cardiac stress test can show if there is reduced blood supply in the arteries that pump blood to your heart. You may have a cardiac stress test to diagnose CAD, determine your safe level of exercise or check the effectiveness of a treatment.

Nuclear stress test

A nuclear stress test (thallium stress test) is similar to a cardiac stress test, but focuses more on the coronary arteries. It measures the heart’s blood pressure and electrical activity before and after exercise.

Nuclear stress tests may use:

• Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) — PET scans of the heart produce images of your heart and show healthy and damaged heart muscle.
• Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) agent — This test examines if your arteries are supplying your heart muscle with enough blood.

Whether you are experiencing a chronic or acute cardiac condition, the importance of heart health to your overall wellness cannot be overstated. We make sure there are a variety of different types of testing at your disposal, so that we can cater our screening and imaging services to your personal condition. We offer the following heart scans:

• Angiograms
  • Computerized tomography (CT) scans
  • Chest magnified resonance angiography (MRA)
• Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Fistulagram
• Multigated acquisition scan (MUGA)
• Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)