Nuclear Stress

There are several types of stress tests that are conducted by doctors to their patients. The type of stress test depends on the condition of the patient. For example an echocardiogram is suitable for patients who can run on the treadmill while a test by the name of Dobutamine stress echocardiogram is a suitable test for elder patients who can't run on the treadmill. Today we discuss the nuclear stress test. Let's have a look at the nuclear stress test in the next paragraph. The basic purpose of a nuclear stress test is that it tests as to how much blood is reaching the heart at any given point of time through the arteries. Hence it tests whether enough amount of blood is reaching the heart through the arteries or not. Also when you take the nuclear stress test, it will enable the doctor decide as to what type of exercise and other precautions you should undertake to keep the stress suffered by your body under control. A nuclear stress test helps to capture images of the whole procedure on computerized gamma cameras while the patient is running on the treadmill. The patient is injected with a radioactive substance before he runs on the treadmill. The radioactive substance is normally thallium-201 or technetium-99m sestamibi and it is this radioactive substance that the cameras can capture the images of. Because of the flow of the radioactive substance in the arteries, an electrical signal is generated which is continuously monitored by the doctor. The doctor will also monitor the heart beat rhythm as well as blood pressure. The doctor will mark any changes in heart beat rhythm while the patient is running in the treadmill. The radio isotope is injected after a little while of the patient running on the treadmill. The pictures are continuously taken for 30 minutes to record any changes during that period and then the images are studied by the doctor after the nuclear stress test. The patient will have to rest for 4 hours and then the whole procedure will start again. The doctor again injects the patient with the isotope and takes a second recording of the images. The patient has to follow some instructions like not eating and drinking anything before 1 hour of the test. However the patient can take regular medicine including the blood pressure medicine. In case the patient is a diabetic then he has to bring his medicine at the test centre. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.