Stress Echocardiogram

Your doctor has ordered a stress echocardiogram. This test is ordinarily done to look for evidence of previous heart muscle damage and to find out if there are areas of the heart muscle which have impaired blood supply. You will be asked to fast for about 2 hours prior to the test, and to wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing and shoes. You will be hooked up to an ECG machine which records your heart rhythm throughout the test. Ultrasound pictures of the heart will be obtained before exercise, when the heart is at rest. You will then be asked to walk on a treadmill at progressively increasing speeds and angles of incline. Your blood pressure and heart rhythm will be monitored during this time.

When you are very tired, but not exhausted, or you experience more than moderate shortness of breath, chest discomfort, or other significant symptoms, the treadmill will be stopped. You will then be asked to get back onto the ultrasound table as quickly as possible, so that the ultrasound pictures of the heart can be obtained when the heart is still beating rapidly after exercise, within the first minute after exercise is stopped.

The normal response to exercise is for the heart to pump more vigorously. If there are portions of the heart muscle that don't pump as well after exercise, this suggests that these portions of the heart have impaired blood supply. The cardiologist may be able to provide a preliminary report of the results, or may want to study the pictures in more detail before giving a final report.

Occasionally, a stress echocardiogram may also be used to assess the function of one or more of the heart valves with exercise, particularly when one of the valves is "leaky".