Cardiac Stress Test

Stress refers to the wear and tear of the body due to excess physical and mental work and tension. When the stress bearing capacity of the body is crossed the symptoms of stress may set in. The symptoms of stress can be physical, mental or emotional. It is necessary to treat stress symptoms immediately otherwise these symptoms may become serious in the long run. There are many symptoms like general fatigue and depression that are misunderstood with the symptoms of stress. Hence it is necessary to undertake one of the many cardiac stress tests under the supervision of your doctor. A cardiac stress test is carried out by your doctor to check the flow of blood to the heart muscle during an exercise. The blood flow is then compared with the first reading, but this time the test is undertaken when the body is at rest. It is seen that there is an imbalance in blood flow to the different regions of the heart due to excessive stress. Hence after carrying out the cardiac stress test the doctor will come to know how much stress the patient has undergone and whether the symptoms of stress have set in. Due to stress the patient may experience symptoms like chest pain. This is because the heart is one of the most common parts of the body that is affected due to excessive stress. And that is because the heart gets imbalanced supply of blood as a result of which it begins to beat abnormally. The cardiac stress test does not gain quite a success in detecting fatty deposits in the arteries that obstruct the supply of blood nor does it reveal any plaques which are the major cause of heart attacks in most patients. In a cardiac stress test the person has to either walk or run on a treadmill. In case the person is old and is not able to run on the treadmill, he is given an IV medication which stimulates exercise while connected to the ECG machine. The blood pressure of the patient as well as the symptoms of the patient is regularly checked throughout the cardiac stress test. In many cases radioactive isotopes like Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi and Thallium-201 may also be used. In such a case the stress test is called a nuclear stress test. The cardiac stress test is also commonly called exercise stress test or exercise treadmill test. Here are some Definitions of Stress: