Heart & Vascular Tests

Effective care starts with the right diagnosis. St. Bernards Heart & Vascular helps you find the reason for your symptoms, so your doctor can plan treatment to improve your health.

Heart & Vascular Imaging

See your heart’s valves, structure and movement with one of these tests:

• Echocardiogram
  
  • Transthoracic echo – Sends painless ultrasound waves through your chest to take pictures of the heart
  • Transesophageal echo – Creates ultrasound images from the back of the heart by placing a tiny camera down the throat while you’re under sedation
  • Intracardiac echo
• Heart and Vascular computed tomography (CT) scan
  
  • Coronary calcium scoring – Measures calcium in your heart arteries
  • Coronary CT angiography – Gives you an injection of a contrast dye to make your heart arteries show up on CT images, so your doctor can see if the blood vessels are narrowed
• Cardiac PET 
  • St. Bernards evaluates the heart and blood flow through Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI), a non-invasive PET test. This procedure helps our providers find narrowed or blocked arteries and heart damage from a heart attack. MPI tests can also show if you need a coronary angiogram or would benefit from a stent or bypass surgery. 
  • Cardiac PET is for patients with body mass index of 40+ & have a history of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and are symptomatic. 
• EVAR, TAVR & ablation imaging

Heart Rhythm Tests

You may receive one of these tests to learn more about an unusual heartbeat (arrhythmia):

• Electrocardiogram (EKG) – Records a few moments of your heart’s electrical activity through small patches attached to your chest
• Holter monitoring and event monitoring – Uses sensors attached to your chest to record the heart’s rhythm for one or two days (Holter monitoring) or up to a month (event monitoring)
• Electrophysiology study – Inserts a catheter (thin tube) with an electrode into a blood vessel and up to your heart to map electrical signals
• Loop recorder implantation – Measures the heart’s electrical activity for up to three years through a small device placed under your skin

Heart Stress Tests

Your doctor may recommend one of the following tests to see how well your heart responds when it has to work harder:

• Exercise stress test – Measures heart rate while you walk or jog on a treadmill
• Dobutamine stress test – Gives you medicine to make your heart pump faster if you can’t perform an exercise stress test
• Nuclear stress test – Uses slightly radioactive material to make blood vessels easier to see on a special video screen
• Stress echocardiogram – Uses ultrasound technology to show how well your heart pumps blood during exercise

Vascular Tests

To assess the health of your blood vessels, a doctor may order:

• Duplex ultrasound – Uses sound waves to show blood flow and blockages in arteries or veins
• Vascular CT angiography – Gives you an injection of a contrast dye to make your blood vessels show up on a CT scan, so your doctor can see if they’re narrowed

Accredited in Vascular Testing

We want you to feel confident in our quality of care. That’s why St. Bernards Heart & Vascular in Jonesboro chose to earn accreditation from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission in:

• Coronary calcium scoring
• Coronary and vascular CTA angiography

This proves we have the right staff, facilities, technology and processes to ensure your safety and accurate results.