Cardiovascular Diagnosis & Imaging
The first step toward a healthy heart is to determine the type and extent of a patient’s cardiovascular disease (CVD). AllianceHealth Durant provides a variety of medical care services and offers modern equipment for diagnosing heart disease. The clinical cardiologists use a wide range of cardiovascular procedures that are often low-risk to diagnose heart defects or disease, including:
- Electrophysiology studies, electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) and transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) measures the heart’s electrical activity and identifies muscle damage that can cause heart disease. Portable devices such as a Holter monitor or event recorder measure a patient’s heart activity throughout the day, over an extended period of time.
- Nuclear medicine scans such as positron emission tomography (PET), PET/CT scans, or thallium or myocardial perfusion scans utilize a small dose of radioactive material to reveal the structure, overall health, signs of cardiovascular disease and blood flow of the heart.
- Non-invasive imaging technologies, including medical procedures like magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), computed tomography angiography (CTA), X-ray and echocardiograms provide images of the cardiovascular system including heart muscle, valves, veins and arteries.
- Cardiac catheterization, or coronary angiogram, is an interventional cardiology procedure that provides real-time X-ray images (fluoroscopy) to show the patient’s heart’s pumping ability, the health of the valves and arteries, as well as measure blood pressure. This technique is also used to collect biopsies and blood samples to potentially diagnose cardiovascular disease or other cardiac health issues.