Nuclear Stress Test...

[THC]

Coat-tailing off a previous thread I posted, I am 5 hours committed to this tomorrow.. anyone here had this stress test done? Not overly worried, but would love to hear how this went for others?

[M45]

Pharmacological or exercise stress?

[tyler1980]

no idea... good luck.

You can come to my house and watch my 3 boys. I won't charge you and if your heart still works after you are fine. I have one of those stress tests done daily

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by THC

Coat-tailing off a previous thread I posted, I am 5 hours committed to this tomorrow.. anyone here had this stress test done? Not overly worried, but would love to hear how this went for others?

I’m not sure if it’s the same thing Tom, but if you are talking about treadmill stress tests for your heart, I have had several. You start out by walking at a leisurely pace, then the treadmill increases pace and incline every three minutes until your heart rate gets up to maximum (depending on your age). There are doctors standing around and you are strapped to all kinds of monitoring equipment. The last couple times I have done it I actually trained for it at the gym and accomplished 15 minutes each time, which I’m pretty proud of. Anyway, if I am way off base with what you are asking I am sorry for taking up post space , and wish you the best of luck on whatever your test is. If it IS the treadmill like I am used to, relax, you’re going to be fine and again, the best of luck.

[Beo3]

Not to worry you, but I had one in 2007 along with two colleagues from my office. The thallium stress showed that we all had blockages, so off to the cath lab we went.
All three of us had false positives and thankfully there was nothing wrong with any of us.

Just a FYI that the test itself may not be accurate,

[cop414]

I had a stress test several years ago after having some mild chest pain. I used to run a lot, I got on the machine and thought, no problem I’ll beat this thing. Nope, no way, that thing crushed me.

[THC]

Originally Posted by M45

Pharmacological or exercise stress?

Not sure but sounds like exercise for the heart

[THC]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

no idea... good luck.

You can come to my house and watch my 3 boys. I won't charge you and if your heart still works after you are fine. I have one of those stress tests done daily

done that for mine

[THC]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I’m not sure if it’s the same thing Tom, but if you are talking about treadmill stress tests for your heart, I have had several. You start out by walking at a leisurely pace, then the treadmill increases pace and incline every three minutes until your heart rate gets up to maximum (depending on your age). There are doctors standing around and you are strapped to all kinds of monitoring equipment. The last couple times I have done it I actually trained for it at the gym and accomplished 15 minutes each time, which I’m pretty proud of. Anyway, if I am way off base with what you are asking I am sorry for taking up post space , and wish you the best of luck on whatever your test is. If it IS the treadmill like I am used to, relax, you’re going to be fine and again, the best of luck.

Yup, thanks Paul, this is what I am in for tomorrow

[THC]

Originally Posted by Beo3

Not to worry you, but I had one in 2007 along with two colleagues from my office. The thallium stress showed that we all had blockages, so off to the cath lab we went.
All three of us had false positives and thankfully there was nothing wrong with any of us.

Just a FYI that the test itself may not be accurate,

Thanks Eddie, but my Cardiologist is aces here in my town

[THC]

Originally Posted by cop414

I had a stress test several years ago after having some mild chest pain. I used to run a lot, I got on the machine and thought, no problem I’ll beat this thing. Nope, no way, that thing crushed me.

Hope all is now well, Tim, I find out tomorrow ha

[SemperFi]

I’ve had exercise stress tests every year since 2009 after my bypass surgery. Every year it was the treadmill type, as Paul explained, and every year I was able to complete the test with excellent results.
Last year I was on the treadmill until my hip and knee gave out toward the end of the test. I was then given an injection which made me woozy for about 30 seconds and then the pictures were taken. The results of this test were also excellent.
Either way I’m sure that your results will be fine.

[roaddog359]

Piece of cake. I out ran the machine, and they made me stop the test. I think they were tired of watching me run at maximum incline. You will be fine its an easy test at the end they inject thallium i believe to take images of your heart. Wear shorts and gym shoes!

[THC]

Originally Posted by SemperFi

I’ve had exercise stress tests every year since 2009 after my bypass surgery. Every year it was the treadmill type, as Paul explained, and every year I was able to complete the test with excellent results.
Last year I was on the treadmill until my hip and knee gave out toward the end of the test. I was then given an injection which made me woozy for about 30 seconds and then the pictures were taken. The results of this test were also excellent.
Either way I’m sure that your results will be fine.

Thanks Angelo, a tad nervous, but my Doc is awesome..

Thanks everyone... gonna be out of pocket for awhile

[Brew]

Failed it, so they tried to go in for a look via catheter. My toothpaste tubes for arteries beat that too, twice; third and fourth attempts were charms. My dad was a cardiologist, I thought. In reality, a plumber.

[swils8610]

It’s a regular treadmill type of stress test. The nuclear part is where they inject some sort of radioactive tracer that shows blood flow to your heart when you’re exerted and at rest. They did imaging while I was resting and then after exertion. Very common test. My doctor at the time only did nuclear stress tests and not the usual ones. He was crazy thorough. They did give me note for flying within 30 days after taking the test due to the tracer.


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[THC]

Originally Posted by roaddog359

Piece of cake. I out ran the machine, and they made me stop the test. I think they were tired of watching me run at maximum incline. You will be fine its an easy test at the end they inject thallium i believe to take images of your heart. Wear shorts and gym shoes!

Man of Steel I am not

[McLovin]

Does anyone know how they do this for disabled people? Maybe there’s a way to get the heart rate up with upper body?

[uscmatt99]

You’ll get an IV line placed and have two round of pictures after injection of the agent. It is something that decays with time and releases Xrays from your body, detected by a camera that rotates around you, and creates an image. This agent goes to the heart in high concentrations allowing it to be imaged.

First set of images is when you are at rest, as a baseline. If you’ve never had a heart attack, this part is usually normal.

For the second set of images, you need to maximally dilate the arteries that supply the heart. Exercise does this, and if you’re unable to exercise to get your heart rate up enough for whatever reason, there is a short acting IV medication that will dilate the vessels directly. At this point, a second injection is administered. Then more pictures.

Your doc or another interpreter will compare the resting and stress images. By dilating the healthy vessels, this “steals” blood flow from the diseased vessel. So on the second set of stress images, the tissue supplied by the bad vessel won’t “light up” as much as the tissue supplied by healthy vessels.

If you’ve had a sizable heart attack in the past, the dead tissue is supplied by a bad vessel and will look abnormal on the resting and stress images.

As others have stated, this test can have a fair number of false positives, which can be sorted out with a more invasive cardiac catheterization.

[TheVTCGuy]

OK, we need to stop talking about this!!!! I’m a certified Hypochondriac and am having chest pains!!!!!

[77T]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I’m not sure if it’s the same thing Tom, but if you are talking about treadmill stress tests for your heart, I have had several. You start out by walking at a leisurely pace, then the treadmill increases pace and incline every three minutes until your heart rate gets up to maximum (depending on your age). There are doctors standing around and you are strapped to all kinds of monitoring equipment. The last couple times I have done it I actually trained for it at the gym and accomplished 15 minutes each time, which I’m pretty proud of. Anyway, if I am way off base with what you are asking I am sorry for taking up post space , and wish you the best of luck on whatever your test is. If it IS the treadmill like I am used to, relax, you’re going to be fine and again, the best of luck.

I’ve done the nuclear with isotope twice. In it, not much matters about scoring tops on the incline/speed/elapsed time. It’s about getting your system into an exercised mode for the second scan.

Adding the nuclear element they will inject an isotope and you’ll get scanned a couple of times.

More if you weren’t told:
Nuclear Stress Test With Exercise
A nuclear stress test with exercise is used to determine what areas of the heart muscle have decreased blood flow during exercise. This test is done by first injecting a radionuclide (thallium or technetium) through an intravenous catheter into a vein in the arm or hand while the patient is at rest. After the radionuclide has been injected and has circulated through the blood stream, a special machine called a gamma camera takes pictures of the heart while the person lies still on a table. This scanning usually lasts about 15‐20 minutes. This is the rest scan of the heart.

Next, the exercise stress test is performed with the patient walking on a treadmill. At peak exercise, a second radionuclide dose is injected through the intravenous catheter. After the radionuclide has been injected and has circulated through the blood stream, a second scan of the heart is performed in the gamma camera. This scanning also lasts about 15‐20 minutes. This is the stress scan of the heart.

Any areas of the heart that have blocked or partially blocked arteries will be seen on the scans as "cold spots," or "defects," because these areas will be unable to absorb the radionuclide into the heart.



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[Brew]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

OK, we need to stop talking about this!!!! I’m a certified Hypochondriac and am having chest pains!!!!!

Note: the pain may also come to your arms, back, jaw, and a couple of other places. Left arm pain while exercising sent me to the doctor, luckily before I had a heart attack.

[Andad]

My wife suggested a full medical and stress test for me when I reached 60.

I swear they stopped the treadmill just in time.

Never again.

[cruise_bone]

Originally Posted by THC

Coat-tailing off a previous thread I posted, I am 5 hours committed to this tomorrow.. anyone here had this stress test done? Not overly worried, but would love to hear how this went for others?

I've had it done. Pretty easy.

[THC]

Originally Posted by cruise_bone

I've had it done. Pretty easy.

Back home and NOOOO was not easy, but glad it is over. I get my results tomorrow

Thanks all

[SemperFi]

Originally Posted by THC

Back home and NOOOO was not easy, but glad it is over. I get my results tomorrow

Thanks all

Yeah, those last few minutes can seem like hours Tom.
Good luck with your results.

[Beo3]

Good luck Tom, I'm certain that all will be fine.

[swils8610]

Originally Posted by THC

Back home and NOOOO was not easy, but glad it is over. I get my results tomorrow

Thanks all

If they didn’t stop you on the treadmill you’re good to go!


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[locutus49]

My nurse hooked me up to a heart monitor and had me masturbate. She wanted to make sure I was safe to have sex. I forgot to mention this to the wife. lol

[kieselguhr]

Originally Posted by THC

Coat-tailing off a previous thread I posted, I am 5 hours committed to this tomorrow.. anyone here had this stress test done? Not overly worried, but would love to hear how this went for others?

Basically, you get a dose of reactive material, the nuclear medicine technologists let the medication circulate for 45 minutes, they take baseline images, then you go have a physical or chemical stress test performed,

-physical: you run on a treadmill until you reach target heart rate, the nm tech gives you another dose, let it circulate and then they take more images.

-chemical: you get a dose of lexiscan and the radioactive markers, they monitor you for a few minutes, let the markers circulate, then they take images

Edit: never mind, just read you got it done already. Good luck on the results. Also, the most definitive cardiac diagnostic test will be an actual angiogram. It can be very stressful dealing with the unknown, but try to focus on things that make you happy or a project you have been working on.