Screenings & Diagnosis/Prevention

• Stress testing, For a stress test, wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes. Your doctor will give you specific instructions on what you can eat or drink prior to the test and whether you need to temporarily stop any medications. Tell your doctor about all medications — over-the-counter as well as prescription — that you are taking.

• Treadmill: This test is a common way to check to make sure your heart is getting enough blood. While you walk on a treadmill, your heart is monitored to see how far you can walk and if you have chest pain or other changes.

• Dobutamine or Adenosine Stress Test. If you’re unable to walk on a treadmill, this test is an option. You’ll be given a drug (Dobutamine or Adenosine), which makes your heart behave as though you are exercising so doctors can see how it performs under stress.

• Stress echocardiogram. Also called an "echo," this test uses ultrasound imaging technology to let your doctor see how your heart pumps and whether it’s getting enough blood. You’ll likely do a resting echo while you lie still and then a second test after you walk on a treadmill.

• Nuclear stress test. This test involves the injection of a small and harmless amount of radioactive material into your body. Then, a special camera lets your doctor see the rays released from that substance to view a picture of your heart on a screen. This gives your doctor a better understanding of whether your heart is getting enough blood. Like the echo, this test is done at rest and after you exercise.

• Heart and vascular ultrasound, wear a comfortable shirt with an open collar; don’t wear necklaces or long earrings. Your doctor will provide any other instructions.

• Ultrasound imaging technology uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture of your heart. Your doctor can check how healthy your heart is and observe your veins and arteries, too, to see if blood is flowing at the rate it should be. This technology can help doctors detect heart failure, holes in the heart, valve issues, blocked arteries, aneurysms and more.

• Pulmonary function testing (spirometry test), Before the test, avoid eating a heavy meal, and don’t smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Ask your doctor if you should stop taking any inhaler medications.

• To test for asthma, bronchitis, and other lung problems, or to find the cause of shortness of breath, your doctor may want to do a pulmonary (lung) function test. This test measures how much air you breathe out and how quickly.

Services and Treatments

• Coronary artery bypass grafting
• Valve repair or replacement
• Thoracoscopy and Thoracotomy
• Lung biopsy and resection
• Mediastinoscopy
• Pacemaker insertions
• Bronchoscopy
• Endovascular thoracic aneurysm repair

Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is a medical procedure performed on patients who suffer from a variety of heart conditions. Catheterization can diagnose and also occasionally treat these conditions.

During catheterization, the catheter — a long, thin tube — is threaded through a blood vessel in the arm, neck or groin and into the heart, allowing diagnostic testing and treatment to be performed.

One test a doctor might perform with the catheter is a coronary angiography. An angiography involves injecting a colored dye into the catheter and then observing the patient’s coronary arteries through an X-ray. (The dye provides doctors with greater visibility.) This procedure allows doctors to see where plaque — a waxy substance that restricts blood flow to the heart — has built up within the arteries. Plaque buildup in the coronary arteries is a dangerous symptom of and precursor to coronary heart disease. If your doctors detect blockage, they might choose to implant a stent, a small tube that expands the artery to allow better blood flow to your heart.

Cardiologists, who generally perform catheterizations in hospitals, also can use ultrasound technology to see your heart’s blood vessels. During catheterization, they might perform a biopsy by removing a muscle sample for further diagnostic tests.