Diagnostic Tests For Other Markers of Heart Disease

Typically, your health-care provider will include athrough the arteries. Medical professionals use special
cholesterol test as part of a routine physical checkup.cameras to view the tracer's passage as it reveals
In addition to blood lipid tests, medical professionalsthe extent of openness or blockage of various blood
may use other tests to achieve a full picture of thevessels.
health of the heart and circulatory system. This isDue to certain physical conditions, some individuals
particularly important if you have other risk factors,cannot undergo the rigors of a stress test. In these
since 50 percent of people with" desirable" cholesterolcases, doctors use medications to stress the heart
levels still have heart disease.as if it were exercising. They then follow the flow of
Noninvasive Diagnostic Teststhe tracer and assess the health of the heart and its
Several of the tests doctors use to measure thecoronary arteries.
function of the heart and the state of the arteriesEchocardiogram
are noninvasive, meaning that they are doneAn echocardiogram, also known as an "echo" test or
with­out entering the body or puncturing theEKG, uses sound waves to take a dynamic picture of
skin. Instead, medical professionals use differentthe heart as it beats. In most cases the test is
types of technology to look at the heart and arteriesnoninvasive. A technician administers the test by
and to measure how well they are functioning.placing a wand-like transducer on your ribs near the
Stress Testsbreastbone. This transducer transmits high frequency
In the stress test, you exercise on a treadmill or asound waves directed toward the heart. The EKG
stationary bicycle to put your heart under stress. Asmachine receives electrical impulses that reflect the
you are exercising, medical professionals willechoes of the sound waves and converts them into
administer tests to measure your heart's response toa dynamic picture of the heart.
the stress. One type of test is an electrocardiogramThe cardiologist analyzes this moving picture of the
(EKG), which measures the electrical flow throughheart to evaluate its functioning. Echocardiography
your heart. The test is noninvasive and involvesreveals the shape and thickness of the walls in the
putting electrodes on your chest that are connectedheart's chambers and the large veins and arteries of
to a machine, the electrocardiograph. Thethe heart, among other things. This information is
electrocardiograph prints out a record of how theparticularly helpful in assessing the risk of
heart is beating and reveals any irregularities. As youatherosclerosis and other heart problems.
exercise, the printout shows whether your heart isMedical professionals also use echocardiography with
able to meet the extra demand placed on it by thestress tests, performing the EKG before exercise
exercise.begins and immediately after it stops. If a patient is
Another method of stress testing uses a radioactiveunable to exercise, drugs may be used to produce a
tracer that is injected intravenously. The tracer flowsstress response in the heart.