Cardiac Diagnostics

What is cardiac diagnostics?
In cardiac diagnostics, doctors use invasive and non-invasive tests to find out how well the heart and lungs are working. Invasive tests like angiograms involve the insertion of special instruments to examine the patient. Non-invasive tests like cardiac stress testing use images and data from ultrasound and exercise tests to diagnose heart diseases.

Test results help the team diagnose heart disease, see the effects caused by a heart attack, and monitor how chronic heart patients are doing. Results can also show if treatment has been effective and whether other treatments or interventions are necessary.

UHN’s Cardiac Diagnostics Care Area
Our health-care professionals are national and international leaders in research, diagnostic testing, and medical education. Our team of doctors, nurses and medical technologists are among the best in the world and are experienced in testing and diagnosing even the most complex cardiac patients.

Our care area provides diagnostic testing to find out how the heart functions at rest and stress. These tests are used to diagnose coronary artery disease (heart disease) and to monitor heart patients:

• Angiogram - A long plastic tube is inserted to measure pressures in the heart. An X-ray dye can be injected though this tube to allow the doctor to take an X-ray photograph of the arteries.
• Echocardiogram (e.g., doppler echo, transthoracic echo, transesophageal echo, contrast echo, stress echo) – High frequency sound waves are used to take a picture of the heart. For more information visit the Echo Cardiography Lab page.
• Cardiac stress testing - Patients are monitored while they exercise on a treadmill, to find out if they have narrowed coronary arteries (atherosclerosis) or to monitor how patients with heart disease are doing.
• Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging - A small amount of a radioactive tracer is injected into the patient. This substance allows doctors to take pictures of the patient’s heart with a special camera. These pictures show any damaged areas at rest and stress.
• Cardiopulmonary testing - This test looks at how well the heart and lungs are working together during exercise. This test is used to evaluate patients with heart failure, adult congenital heart disease and patients who are waiting for a transplant.
• Holter monitoring - Using electrodes and a recorder, the patient’s heart rhythm is recorded continuously over a period of 24-72 hours. This test diagnoses any rhythm disturbances (if the heart is going too fast or slow) that may cause heart palpitations or fainting.