Cardiovascular Pharmacology: Open Access

Interim Trends in Cardiac Stress Tests in Patients with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease

Mirella Saad^* Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
^*Correspondence: Mirella Saad, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, Email:

Received: 05-Apr-2022, Manuscript No. CPO-22-16563; Editor assigned: 08-Apr-2022, Pre QC No. CPO-22-16563 (PQ); Reviewed: 22-Apr-2022, QC No. CPO-22-16563; Revised: 29-Apr-2022, Manuscript No. CPO-22-16563 (R); Published: 06-May-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2329-6607.22.11.281

Description

A cardiac stress test (also known as a cardiac stress test) is an office test used to measure the heart's response to physical activity in a controlled environment. Usually performed on a treadmill or stationary cycle, this test is useful for diagnosing Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), a condition that is often missed when a person is at rest.

Cardiac stress testing measures the condition of your cardiovascular system, including your heart and blood vessels. It does this by comparing your circulation at rest with similar measurements taken at maximum exertion. While the primary purpose of the test is to detect abnormalities suggestive of CAD, it can also be used to monitor the health of people with other forms of heart disease.

For men with symptoms such as chest pain with activity or unexplained shortness of breath, an abnormal exercise test indicates a higher risk of coronary heart disease. But it's more worrisome in a man who also has risk factors such as advanced age, being overweight or high cholesterol. "This clearly indicates coronary artery disease." If you have normal symptoms and test results, your risk of coronary heart disease is lower. Even so, your doctor may still want to do other tests. But it's important to understand that a "normal" stress test cannot rule out the possibility that plaque subsequently ruptures and clogs an artery - the proverbial tale of a man taking a stress test straight and then had a heart attack a week later. Stress testing detects arteries that are severely narrowed (70% or more). This is what causes the symptoms. Heart attacks are usually caused by smaller blockages that rupture and form blood clots.

Diagnosis of coronary artery disease, the coronary artery is the main blood vessel that supplies blood, oxygen, and nutrients to your heart. Coronary artery disease develops when these arteries are damaged or diseased, usually by a build-up of deposits containing cholesterol and other substances (plaques).

Diagnosing heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias). An arrhythmia occurs when the electrical signals that regulate your heart's rhythm don't work properly. An arrhythmia can cause your heart to beat too fast, too slow, or irregularly.

Mobility testing is a diagnostic test that identifies coronary artery disease in symptomatic patients and is used to evaluate patients with known heart disease. Screening of asymptomatic patients is not usually indicated. It can be done in some functionally impaired adults before starting a vigorous exercise program, but there are no studies comparing pre-exercise screening versus promotion. Encourage light exercise with gradual increments of effort. Preoperative exercise testing is useful for risk stratification in patients undergoing vascular surgery or those with active cardiac symptoms prior to undergoing elective non cardiac surgery. Stress testing without imaging is the preferred initial choice for risk stratification in most women.

Sensitivity and specificity are increased when using adjunctive imaging such as echocardiography or myocardial perfusion imaging with single photon emission computed tomography. Mobility testing is rarely an appropriate option for the evaluation of individuals with known coronary artery disease with no new symptoms within two years of percutaneous intervention or within five years of coronary artery bypass grafting. Duke treadmill scores have excellent prognostic value for exercise testing. Imaging is not necessary if the patient can achieve more than 10 metabolic equivalents on the stress test.