Echo
What the test will show?

• The size and shape of your heart
• How well your heart is working overall
• To see if a section of your heart muscle is not pumping effectively
• If you have problems with your hearts valves
• If you have a blood clot

Stress Test
What the test will show?

• Your heart rate
• Your breathing
• Your blood pressure
• Your electrocardiogram (ECK or EKG)
• What your heart functions are when you are exercising (stressed)

Cardiac Cath
This test is performed in the hospital and is what is called an "invasive" test.
What the test will show?

• This test allows your physician to visualize the arteries of your heart and can measure the pressure within the heart and how much oxygen is in the blood.
• Get information about the pumping ability of the heart muscle.

Nuclear
What the test will show?

• Severity of a coronary artery blockage
• Prognosis of patients who've suffered a heart attack
• Effectiveness of cardiac procedures done to improve circulation in coronary arteries
• Cause(s) of chest pain
• Level of exercise that a patient can safely perform

Your Results:

• If the test is normal during both exercise and rest, then blood flow through the coronary arteries is normal. The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle.
• If the test shows that perfusion (blood flow) is normal during rest but not during exercise (a perfusion defect), then the heart isn't getting enough blood when it must work harder than normal. This may be due to a blockage in one or more coronary arteries.
• If the test is abnormal during both exercise and rest, there's limited blood flow to that part of the heart at all times.
• If no thallium is seen in some part of the heart muscle, the cells in this part of the heart are dead from a prior heart attack. (They have become scar tissue.)

Calcium Score
What the test will show?

• The amount of calcium detected by a calcium scoring is related to the amount of underlying coronary atherosclerosis. The coronary calcium score is known to predict the occurrence of cardiac events, such as fatal and nonfatal heart attacks or the need for coronary bypass surgery or coronary (balloon) angioplasty over the next one or two years.
• A negative calcium score implies a very low risk for obstructing coronary lesions and has a high negative predictive value for coronary events.