What Is The Method To Check The Current Status Of Heart To Dertemine Any Blockage?

Posted on Fri, 20 Dec 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 Answered on

Mon, 6 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Is there a way/test to find current status of your Heart in terms of blocakge (if any ). I did ECG six month back and it was fine.But i had high Cholesterol at that time. I don't have any problems or sysmtoms as of now, but wanted to know ist there any non-invasive test through which we can determine current status of heart. Thanks

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: yes - TMT & CT angio can evaluate Detailed Answer: Dear friend, Welcome to Health Care Magic The usual approach is to have a Treadmill Exercise Electrocardiogram (TMT). If it is normal, nothing to do – except to repeat annually. If TMT (Treadmill Exercise ECG) suggests ischemia, it is an indication for further work up – The next step is TMT with thallium isotope. It is the ideal non-invasive way to evaluate ischemia / to assess the PHYSIOLOGY (function) – to see whether the blood arriving at the heart muscle. If there is a suggestion, the next step is to see the ANATOMY (structure) – undergo catheterisation and coronary angiography with a view for possible intervention. It is the only way to directly ‘see’ the block, if any – and its location, extent, severity and so on. Coronary arteriography is invasive but it is the gold standard for this. CT angio is non-invasive study for the anatomy. If positive, one needs catheterisation, anyway. Good luck Take care Wishing all well God bless

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar