Nuclear Stress Test for Diagnosing Heart Disease and Its Risk Factors

Nuclear stress test is done for measuring blood flow to the heart muscles both when there’s stress on the heart and when the heart is at rest. The test is quite similar to the routine exercise stress tests, but this diagnostic procedure offers images that show areas having decreased blood flow towards heart and the areas with damaged heart muscles. Generally, 2 sets of images of heart is taken during this test. The first set of images are taken when the patients is exercising on a stationary bike or treadmill or has taken a medicine that stresses the heart. The other set of images are taken when the patient’s heart is that rest. This will allow the cardiologist to understand how well the heart works while the patient is performing physical activities and when he or she is at rest.

Doctors recommend this test mostly when a patient is suspected to be suffering from coronary artery disease and the exercise stress test has not been able to pinpoint exact causes of signs like difficulty in breathing, chest pain etc; however, other heart problems can also be diagnosed through this test. The doctor can also ask a patient to undergo the test to plan the treatment if the patient is already diagnosed with a cardiac disorder.

Although nuclear stress test is extremely helpful in diagnosing heart disorders, it comes with certain risk factors; some of them are:

• Exercising during the test may result in decrease in blood pressure levels and the patient may experience lightheadedness.
• Some people get allergic reaction from the radioactive dyes injected into their vein during the test.
• Another risk associated with nuclear stress test is arrhythmias or abnormal heart rhythm; however mostly this problem goes away once the test is over.
• Very rarely a person undergoing nuclear stress test may suffer from heart attack or myocardial infarction.
• When the patient undergoing the test is given medicines that result in stress on heart he or she may temporarily suffer from flushing sensation and chest pain.