General Health

TESTS

• An angiogram, which is usually done before bypass surgery; a special dye is injected into the coronary vessels to check the degree to which they’ve narrowed.
• Blood tests, including a skin test for tuberculosis.
• A bronchoscopy test, which allows the doctor to look directly into your lung to see if there are any lesions or tumors; this test is done in the hospital under sedation.
• A cardiac imaging test, which uses special X-ray equipment during a specific type of stress test to show the extent of heart damage and to evaluate if a blood vessel is blocked.
• A computerized axial tomography, or CAT, scan,
which is an X-ray procedure that provides extremely detailed pictures of the chest or other body parts.
• A chest X ray, which helps determine overall heart size as well as any incidence of heart failure by revealing fluid in the lungs.
• An echocardiogram, which is a sound-wave test that checks how your heart valves function and measures the output of your heart.
• An electrocardiogram, which shows the electrical activity of your heart and reveals any damage or the presence of
an irregular heartbeat; can also show if a recent heart attack has affected the heart—or if there is an acute heart attack actually in progress.
• A full medical history and a physical exam.
• A Holtor monitor, which is a 24-hour electronic device that checks your heartbeat for any irregularity.
• An oximetry test, which is done with a simple monitor that’s placed on your earlobe or finger to check the oxygen content of your blood.
• A spirometry test, which checks your lung function when you breathe into a tube; it measures the amount of air that is expelled from your lung and helps your doctor determine if asthma or another lung dysfunction is the reason for your cough.
• A stress test, which is an exercise session performed in a controlled environment; it can be conducted on either a treadmill or a bicycle or in one of the newer high-tech nuclear scans, to measure how the heart reacts to the stress of physical activity.

PROCEDURES

• An angioplasty, which is a nonsurgical technique that uses a balloon to open up a blocked area of the coronary artery; this is possible only if the blockage is small.
• Coronary bypass surgery, which is a surgical technique used to bypass a blocked artery; this is performed when an angioplasty won’t achieve the desired results.
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General Health