Reno Cardiologist: Performing Echo Stress Tests

There are many different procedures that can be used to help diagnose you if you have a heart condition. People are generally less inclined to have invasive procedures done, due to many factors, including complications. Non-invasive procedures are usually much safer and both the patient and doctor prefer them. Among many of the non-invasive procedures, echocardiograms are one of the most popular along with CT angiographies. When you see a Reno cardiologist, he or she will go over all of your options with you personally to see which one best fits you. They will try as hard as they can to get all the information they'll need for your diagnosis through procedures that are as little invasive as possible.

Our articles feature much information about the tests that our cardiologists can perform to find out the cause behind your heart condition. Continue reading this one to learn about how a stress echocardiogram works and read some of our other articles to learn about other procedures.

What is a Stress Echocardiogram?

To test for heart conditions, a doctor can use many procedures, including an echo stress test. This echo stress test (otherwise known as a stress echocardiogram) is a non-invasive procedure that sends high-pitched sound waves (ultrasounds) through a device called a transducer or a probe. The device then receives the sound waves once they've come back after bouncing off the different parts of the heart. This procedure is almost identical to the way ultrasounds for fetal monitoring are performed except that the test is done both before and after your heart is stressed. The sound waves are then transferred into a computer monitor where they display a current image of your heart.

Using this image, a Reno cardiologist can correctly identify what is wrong with your heart. This test is usually performed to test if there is decreased blood flow to your heart which can lead to many problems and complications.