The SSM Heart Institute offers comprehensive, accessible diagnostic services that are the key to successful patient outcomes. These diagnostic services, available on an inpatient and outpatient basis, apply advanced technologies to identify people who are at risk for heart attacks, and heart and artery disease, so that preventive steps can be implemented to achieve long-term healthy results. Each of our SSM Heart Institute locations can perform diagnostic testing that includes:
Blood Tests
When the heart is injured, cardiac enzymes are released into the blood stream. Through a series of blood tests, doctors can observe the changes of each specific enzyme and determine whether there is damage.
EKG
The most common non-invasive test is an electrocardiogram (EKG), which records your heart’s electrical activity. SSM Heart Institute is the first in St. Louis to use wireless EKGs. This means you won’t be connected to a heart monitor by cumbersome wires, and it increases accuracy of clinical alarms and decreases the infection risk associated with traditional “reusable” EKG wires.
Cardiac Stress Test
A cardiac stress test is an exercise tolerance test. During a stress test, you’ll walk on a treadmill or ride an exercise bike for a specific duration to determine you’re heart’s ability to function under physician stress and exercise. An EKG machine will measure the electrical flow in your heart. The test results will help diagnose heart disease, causes of chest pain, and coronary artery disease.
MUGA Scan
This scan uses low dose radioactive material given intravenously to visualize the heart’s pumping action.
Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram exam is a painless, non-invasive procedure using ultrasound waves to help “visualize” the movements of the heart’s valves and chambers on a screen to see how they are functioning. This test may be done in conjunction with a cardiac stress test.
Transesophageal Echocardiogram
This is a non-invasive procedure using ultrasound waves. A miniaturized flexible transducer (probe) is passed down the esophagus to help the physician visualize the movements of the heart’s valves and chambers.
Holter Monitor
You may be asked to wear a holter monitor, which is a machine that continuously records the heart rhythm. Electrodes are placed on your chest and connect to a small monitor that records your heart rhythm during normal activity over a 24-hour period. Your physician will study this recording for any correlation between your normal activities and changes in your heart’s rhythm.
Heart CT
The SSM Heart Institute offers 64-slice CT technology for CT angiography. The 64-slice CT is being called the most effective tool available for the non-invasive detection and evaluation of coronary artery and vascular disease. It offers detailed, accurate, three-dimensional images of your heart that can reveal potential causes of chest pain.
Cardiac Catheterization
If other diagnostic tests are inconclusive or suggest the presence of narrowed blood vessels, cardiac catheterization may be necessary. Cardiac catheterization is considered the gold standard to verify the presence of heart disease. Cardiologists perform this procedure by inserting a long, thin tube called a catheter through an artery or vein in the leg or arm and into the heart. At this point, the physicians may perform angiography to detect blockages, or an electrophysiological study (EPS) to evaluate irregular heartbeats, or another procedure.