Echocardiography

An echocardiogram is a test that uses ultrasound to create images of the heart. Ultrasound sends sound waves through the area of the body being studied to create images of internal body structures. The test is also known as an “echo.”

Peripheral Artery Imaging – Carotid, Abdominal, Renal Artery, and Lower Extremity Ultrasound

Peripheral arterial imaging is a test that provides your doctor with information about the condition of the arteries and veins outside of your heart using ultrasound to develop a 2-dimensional image and to evaluate the flow of blood through that vessel.

Myocardial Perfusion Test / Nuclear Stress Test

A Myocardial Perfusion Scan (also called a nuclear stress test) allows your doctor to see how your heart muscle works both when you are resting and when your heart is stressed. Your heart can be “stressed” with exercise on a treadmill or with drugs that increase the heart rate or change the way blood flows through the coronary arteries.

Transesophageal Echocardiogram

A transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a test that uses ultrasound waves to look at your heart from inside your chest. For this test, a small, flexible tube (or probe) with an ultrasound transducer at its tip is carefully placed in the esophagus to view the structures of the heart in a more comprehensive manner than a traditional transthoracic (through the chest wall) approach can provide. As this test is more invasive, patients are usually given medication to relax and sleep during the procedure.

Exercise Stress Test

This is a test that uses an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) to record your heart’s electrical activity while walking on a treadmill. The test is performed to help evaluate chest pain and how your heart is functioning.

Stress Echocardiogram

This is a test that allows your doctor to compare images of your heart muscle at rest with how it functions when stressed during exercise. Your heart rate is increased through exercise on a treadmill. In some cases, a drug is used to increase the heart rate rather than exercise. An echocardiogram is performed before you begin exercising and then immediately after you stop. Your heartbeat and blood pressure are also monitored during your stress echocardiogram.

Holter Monitor (24/48 hours)

A Holter recorder is a device that continuously records the electrical activity of your heart for 24 hours. The recorder records your heartbeat while you perform your usual daily activities. You wear the recorder and keep a diary to report symptoms or events to help your cardiologist determine if your symptoms are related to an abnormality of your heart rhythm.

Event Monitor

An Event Monitor is a small recording device that looks similar to a pager. You are given a recorder to use for 30 days and you push a button to record your heart activity any time you experience symptoms. The recorder records your heart activity for about 2 minutes and helps your cardiologist determine whether your symptoms are related to abnormal heart rhythm.

ECG or EKG

An electrocardiogram demonstrates how your heart’s electrical system is working. The ECG senses and records the flow of electrical current through the muscle cells in your heart. The results are printed on a strip of paper or recorded electronically.

Venous Doppler

Venous Doppler is a special ultrasound technique that evaluates blood as it flows through a blood vessel, including the body’s major arteries and veins in the abdomen, arms, legs and neck.

Lexi scan-Nuclear

This is a type of nuclear scanning test. It shows how well blood flows to the heart muscle. The lexiscan stress test involves injecting a medication called lexiscan into your IV while you are closely monitored. The medication makes the heart respond as if you are exercising. This test is used for people that are unable to exercise or can’t exercise for very long. The lexiscan stress test is useful to determine if there is adequate blood flow to your heart during increasing levels of activity, the extent of a coronary artery blockage, prognosis of patients who have suffered a heart attack, the effectiveness of cardiac procedures done to improve circulation in coronary arteries, the cause(s) of chest pain, and estimate the risk of surgery that can cause cardiac complications.

Muga Scan

Radionuclide ventriculography (RVG, RNV) or radionuclide angiography (RNA) is often referred to as a MUGA (multiple-gated acquisition) scan. It is a type of nuclear imaging test. This scan shows how well your heart is pumping.

Cardioversion

If your heart has an irregular (uneven) beat or is beating too fast, cardioversion is a way to restore a regular rhythm. Abnormal heart rhythms are called arrhythmias.

There are two kinds of cardioversion. Your doctor may give you one or more medicines to bring back your regular heartbeat. This is called pharmacologic (chemical) cardioversion. Doctors also restore regular rhythms by sending an electrical shock to the heart. This is called electrical cardioversion.

Left Heart Catheterization

Left heart catheterization is the passage of a thin flexible tube (catheter) into the left side of the heart. It is done to diagnose or treat certain heart problems.

Right Heart Catheterization

Swan-Ganz catheterization is the passing of a thin tube (catheter) into the right side of the heart and the arteries leading to the lungs. It is done to monitor the heart’s function and blood flow and pressures in and around the heart. This test is most often done in people who are very ill.

Complete Heart Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization  is a procedure used to diagnose and treat certain cardiovascular conditions. During cardiac catheterization, a long thin tube called a catheter is inserted in an artery or vein in your groin, neck or arm and threaded through your blood vessels to your heart. Using this catheter, doctors can then do diagnostic tests as part of a cardiac catheterization. Some heart disease treatments, such as coronary angioplasty and coronary stenting, also are done using cardiac catheterization. Usually, you’ll be awake during cardiac catheterization but be given medications to help you relax. Recovery time for a cardiac catheterization is quick, and there’s a low risk of complications.

Stent

Stents are usually needed when plaque blocks a blood vessel. Plaque is made of cholesterol and other substances that attach to the walls of a vessel.

Angioplasty

Angioplasty is a procedure to restore blood flow through the artery. You have angioplasty in a hospital. The doctor threads a thin tube through a blood vessel in the arm or groin up to the involved site in the artery. The tube has a tiny balloon on the end. When the tube is in place, the doctor inflates the balloon to push the plaque outward against the wall of the artery. This widens the artery and restores blood flow.

Cardiac CT

Computed tomography, commonly known as a CT scan, combines multiple X-ray images with the aid of a computer to produce cross-sectional views of the body. Cardiac CT is a heart-imaging test that uses CT technology with or without intravenous (IV) contrast (dye) to visualize the heart anatomy, coronary circulation, and great vessels (which includes the aorta, pulmonary veins, and arteries).

TAVR: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Cardiology Associates of Morristown offers world-class heart and vascular care and treatment. Our team of board-certified doctors will conduct a complete evaluation and provide a personalized plan of treatment.

Don’t let your heart conditions go undiagnosed. Call Cardiology Associates of Morristown today at 973-889-9001 or request an appointment online.