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Commonly Asked Questions |
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“My doctor did an EKG on me recently. Why didn’t he detect the blockages?”EKG is a good test to determine the rate and rhythm of the heart, evidence of thickness of the heart muscle, and the patency of the conducting system, and its abnormalities. It can also detect the location of previous heart attacks. In the beginning of a heart attack, it is of utmost use to identify changes, which has great therapeutic implications for administration of clot-busters. However, an EKG is not useful in detecting atherosclerotic blockages in coronary artery diseases with any confidence. In essence, EKG is not meant to detect atherosclerotic build-up or chronic subtotal blockages."I had a physical done…a little high cholesterol, but the EKG was fine, no heart problems, give me one more hamburger"…is not an unusual reaction amongst many of us. We have heard several stories of having had a normal physical with normal EKG and the person developing a heart attack or sustaining sudden death within hours or days. EKG is a wonderful tool to identify whether a given coronary blockage is severely flow limiting particularly with exercise and unique in its ability to distinguish coronary anginal pain from atypical noncardiac pains. The evaluation of an acute myocardial infarction is very closely monitored by serial EKGs. EKG is the quickest and most widely utilized bedside cardiac test of all kinds and times.
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Phone: (585) 338-2322 © Copyright 2002, Heart Associates of Rochester. All rights reserved. |
