Physicians use many tests to help diagnose a patient with a heart condition. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale offers a comprehensive array of cardiac diagnostic services. These include:
- Electrocardiography (EKG/ECG) - Evaluation of your heart that measures the electrical signals that control the rhythm of your heartbeat.
- Stress Test (Exercise Electrocardiography) - EKG done during exercise to evaluate how the heart responds to the demands of physical activity.
- Holter Monitoring (Ambulatory Electrocardiography) – Evaluation using a small battery-powered recorder to continuously monitor the electrical activity of your heart for 24 hours.
- Event Monitoring - Evaluation using a battery-powered recorder to evaluate the heart. This device is usually worn for up to 30 days. The patient turns on the recorder during a cardiac event. Once the data is recorded, the patient will return the monitor to the hospital for evaluation.
- Echocardiography – Evaluation of the structure of the heart and the velocity of blood flow in the heart using sound waves.
- Dobutamine Echocardiography – A non-exercise evaluation the heart for patients who have asthma or other breathing difficulties.
- Stress Echocardiography - Evaluation of the structure of the heart during activity using sound waves.
- Transesophageal Echocardiography – Evaluation of the structure of the heart with a small instrument that is passed down through the esophagus and uses sound waves to produce a picture of the heart.
- Persantine Stress Test – A non-exercise evaluation of the heart for patients who are unable to walk on a treadmill. This test uses a medication that makes the heart respond as if the patient were really exercising.
- Intravascular Ultrasound - An evaluation that uses a probe to take pictures from inside arteries to measure the percentage of stenosis (scar tissue).
- Tilt Table Studies – Uses a special table and electrocardiography to evaluate fainting problems.
- Cardiolite/Sestamibi Thallium Heart Scan (Nuclear Medicine Cardiac Scan) – a scan of the heart using harmless radioactive tracers to estimate the amount of blood reaching the heart muscle during rest and exercise.
- Cardiac Enzyme Testing – a test that helps confirm or diagnose a heart attack by evaluating the level of special enzymes in the heart.
- Cardiac Risk Profile (lipid panel) – a blood test to determine the level of cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, and LDL in the bloodstream.
Our courteous and professional staff will help with instruction during the tests and make you feel comfortable.
Physicians providing services at and admitting patients to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Herrin Hospital and St. Joseph Memorial Hospital are not employees of the hospitals. Physicians exercise their own independent judgment regarding medical care and treatment and the hospitals are not responsible for their actions.