heart and blood vessel disorders
Stress Testing
How stress testing is done
Tostress the heart using physical exercise,most people Walk on a treadmill Pedal an exercise bicycle Gradually, the pace of the exercise and the force required to do it (workload) are increased. The ECG is monitored continuously, and blood pressure is measured at intervals. Usually, the person being tested is asked to keep going until the heart rate reaches between 80% and 90% of the maximum for age and sex. If symptoms, such as shortness of breath or chest pain, become too uncomfortable or if significant abnormalities appear on the ECG or blood pressure recordings, the test is stopped sooner. In some people, doctors will do tests other than ECG, such as Echocardiography and Other Ultrasound Procedures and Testing can take 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the type of stress test done. Exercise stress testing has a small risk. The chance of its causing a heart attack or death is 1 in 5,000. Doctorsstress the heart using drugs(pharmacologic stress testing) in people who cannot exercise enough to do the test. For this procedure, a drug, such asdipyridamole,dobutamine,adenosine, orregadenosonis injected to simulate the effects of exercise on the heart. 