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When a patient has symptoms of a heart attack, the physician will promptly evaluate the patient’s medical history and run tests such as:
- Electrocardiogram (EKG). A recording of the heart’s electrical activity as a graph, or series of wave lines, on a moving strip of paper or video monitor. The highly sensitive electrocardiograph machine helps detect heart irregularities, disease and damage by measuring the heart’s rhythms and electrical impulses.
- Blood tests. These can be used to detect the presence of certain markers that are released following a heart attack. These include troponin, myoglobin, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and creatine kinase MB.
Once the patient is stabilized, the final diagnosis of whether the patient actually had a heart attack can take several days. Tests that may be run during this time include:
- Radionuclide imaging. A branch of nuclear medicine that introduces small, harmless amounts of radioactive materials (“tracers”) into the body. A special gamma camera is then used to scan the radioactive tracers and create visual images of the heart.
- Echocardiogram of the heart. This test uses sound waves to track the structure and function of the heart. A moving image of the patient’s beating heart is played on a video monitor, allowing the physician to study the heart’s thickness, size and function. The image also shows the motion pattern and structure of the four heart valves. During this test, a Doppler ultrasound may also be done to evaluate blood flow within the heart, revealing any potential leakage (regurgitation) or narrowing (stenosis) of the heart valves.
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