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Stress Tests
Evaluating your heart health
Stress Testing to Monitor Your Heart Health
When it comes to your heart, it’s important to play it safe. At Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham, we’re here to help you measure and monitor your heart health. With the help of a cardiac stress test, we can help you understand how well your heart is working.
Diagnosing a Range of Heart Conditions
Stress tests can reveal various heart abnormalities. During a stress test, you’re asked to exercise to make your heart work hard and beat fast. While exercising, our stress test experts monitor your heart to see how it’s working. They look for changes to heart rate, blood pressure and electrical activity.
When to Have a Stress Test
Your doctor may recommend a stress test to:
- Diagnose coronary artery disease.
- Diagnose heart-related causes of symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath or lightheadedness.
- Determine a safe level of exercise.
- Check the effectiveness of certain procedures.
- Predict risk of life-threatening conditions like a heart attack.
Advanced Stress Tests
Depending on the results of your exercise stress test, your doctor may recommend additional specialized stress tests. These include:
Nuclear Cardiac Stress Test
A nuclear stress test allows your doctor to see how blood is flowing in your heart during exercise. During this test, you’ll receive a small amount of radioactive material, called a radiotracer. Our specialists use imaging tools to follow the radiotracer while you’re exercising.
We work with our nuclear medicine team to perform nuclear stress tests.
Cardiac Catheterization
During a cardiac catheterization procedure, your doctor guides a small tube (catheter) through a blood vessel to your heart. This procedure helps your doctor diagnose and treat various heart conditions.
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Services & Specialties
Our heart and vascular experts work with the following specialties to deliver quality care:
