Cardiolite Stress Test
This diagnostic study, or Myocardial Perfusion Imagining, combines a nuclear medicine scan of the heart and a stress test (see Echo Stress Test for more information). This test is performed in Samaritan's Cardiopulmonary Service’s Stress Lab and Radiology's nuclear imaging lab.
As with an Echo Stress test, a patient’s heart is evaluated while exercising, or while medications like adenosine and dobutamine are administered to simulate the effects of exercise. When a patient reaches the maximum level of exercise or exercise stimulation, a small amount of Cardiolite® is injected into an IV site. The patient then reclines on the table under a camera that scans the heart and detects the energy emitted from the radioactive medicine circulating in the heart. Pictures obtained during the scan show the heart’s blood flow both at rest and following exercise. If a portion of the heart muscle doesn't receive a normal blood supply, a deficiency of radioactive medicine activity in that area will appear on the finished images as a “defect".
By producing an image of the heart, the radioactive medicine Cardiolite ® can increase the accuracy of a traditional stress test, showing how well blood flows to the heart muscle. The cardiac nuclear stress test helps determine whether coronary artery blockages are so severe as to limit blood flow to the heart muscle when it needs it most… during physical activity. In addition, nuclear imaging addresses the heart’s pumping function, commonly referred to as the “ejection fraction”.
The amount of radiation you will receive is comparable to that from an X-ray. Cardiologists, physicians, and technologists with expertise in nuclear cardiology perform, supervise, and analyze these tests, which are performed at Samaritan Hospital.
