After arriving at our office you will be brought over to the testing facility. You will be hooked up to an EKG machine, and ultrasonographic pictures will be taken of your heart while lying on the left side with the ultrasound machine. This is totally painless, and takes approximately fifteen minutes to perform. This will allow us to visualize your heart structure and function, and your heart valve structure and function. Thereafter you will be placed on a treadmill after the doctor arrives. The treadmill is like any other treadmill. You will walk on the treadmill with the treadmill speed and inclination being increased every three minutes. It is important to note that you control the test. If you do want to stop, you tell the doctor, and the test will be stopped. The doctor may also deem to stop the test earlier if he thinks you have achieved the appropriate heart rate and blood pressure. Immediately after the test is over you will be instructed to lie down back on the table on your left side so the sonographer can take pictures once again. These images will be put into a computer. The computer will put the images side by side, and allow us to visualize your heart function both pre- and post-exercise. This is a highly sensitive test allowing us to determine if you have significant blockages in your heart within 85% to 88% sensitivity. After you finish the test you are more than welcome to use our shower facilities prior to departure home. You will know the results of the test at the time the test is performed.

After you arrive in the office you will be brought over to our testing center where the echo tech will give you a gown and ask you to remove everything from the waist up. The echo tech may or may not have you lie on your left hand side. A small rubber transducer will be placed on your chest with some jelly, and ultrasonic waves will be used to visualize your heart. This is totally painless, and takes about twenty minutes to do the entire procedure. This will allow us to visualize your heart structure and function, your heart valve structure and function, as well as determine if there is any fluid around your heart. After the procedure is finished you are welcome to use our shower facilities if you wish.

After arriving in our office you will be brought back to one of our diagnostic rooms where our technician will have you remove your slacks. You will be placed in a gown. A series of cuffs will be placed on your upper leg and lower leg. Using ultrasound, pressure waves will be determined. This is totally painless, and it takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes to do.

After arriving in our office you will be brought over to our testing facility. Thereafter an intravenous will be started in your hand or arm. An injection will be made of a radioactive isotope. This is totally safe with no significant side effects. After the injection is given you will be seated in one of our cameras, and pictures will be taken of your heart. This is totally painless, and takes about ten to fifteen minutes to obtain. After this you may wait in the waiting room again for a few minutes, and be brought back in for the second part of the test. The second part of the test will either be using a drug called adenosine or Lexiscan. This is a drug that simulates exercise in your heart. When we administer these drugs you may experience a feeling of flushness or perhaps tightness in your chest. If this drug is given, the infusion of the drug is no more than four minutes. Just prior to the termination of the drug infusion you will be injected again with a radioactive isotope. It should be noted that as soon as the infusion of the drug is stopped symptoms, if any, will go away within thirty seconds. After the test is done you will again be brought back into the scanning room where you will sit in a chair, and one of our cameras will scan your heart once again. These images will be compared to the baseline images that were obtained at the beginning of the day. Alternatively, you may actually undergo a stress test with a nuclear isotope. The beginning will be virtually the same in that you will receive an injection, and pictures will be taken. The difference will be that you will be put on a treadmill. Just like any other treadmill, you will walk on this. Every three minutes the treadmill will become higher and somewhat faster. Just prior to peak exercise we will inject the radioactive isotope once again. After the test is done you will lie down and rest. Thereafter you will be brought back into the room, and pictures of your heart will be taken with one of our nuclear cameras once again. It is important to note that you determine how far you go on the treadmill. When you want to stop, we will be more than happy to stop you. Once the test is concluded you can take a shower in our shower facilities prior to departure for home. The results of the nuclear stress test will be given to you or your referring doctor within 24 hours of the procedure.