Stress Echocardiography

Stress Echocardiogram (Stress Echo) is a test to assess heart function under physical stress. Exercise is done on a treadmill, just like exercise in a commercial gym. The test uses both ultrasound and the electrical signals from your heart (ECG) to assess the health of your heart. 

Ultrasound waves (inaudible sound waves) are used to image the heart and assess its function before and immediately after the exercise to see how the heart muscle pump is working, and sometimes to measure other parameters. There is no radiation from this test (Xrays), it is the same technology that is used to take pictures of a baby during pregnancy.

Why do you need a stress echo? 

There are several reasons your doctor may request a Stress Echo including:

  • Exclusion of ischaemic heart disease (to see if there is reduced blood supply to any portion of the heart during exercise which may represent a significant blockage in a coronary artery supplying blood to that part of the heart muscle)

  • Fitness to drive (commercial heavy vehicle licence or private licence)

  • Fitness for joining a gym or a specific exercise program

  • Fitness for surgery from a cardiac perspective

  • Assessing valvular problems and lung pressures (pulmonary hypertension) during exercise

Why do your stress echo at Melbourne Cardiology Group?

At Melbourne Cardiology Group stress echoes are done by a senior echo technician as well as an experienced specialist echo cardiologist ensuring a highly accurate assessment. The report will be immediately available to your GP and the echo cardiologist will contact your referring doctor (GP or Specialist) if further management is required.

Stress ECG

A stress test, sometimes called a treadmill stress test or exercise test, is used to find out how well your heart functions during exercise. The test uses the electrical signals from your heart, the ECG (electrocardiogram), to determine if there is a problem with your heart (eg- blocked coronary arteries or a heart rhythm problem). 

The stress ECG differs from a stress echocardiogram (stress echo). A stress echo uses ultrasound and the ECG to assess the health of your heart. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive value (how good is the test at finding a problem) of Stress ECG is less than Stress Echo for assessment of ischaemic heart disease (any significant narrowing of your coronary arteries) but it has its own indications and usefulness.

As your body works harder during exercise, it requires more oxygen, so the heart must pump more blood. If there is any blockage in the arteries supplying blood to your heart muscle, it will cause reduction in oxygen supply and ECG will change. This means that the test is “positive”.

There may be an arrhythmia (electrical problem or rhythm problem) precipitated by exercise, and this test helps to unmask that.

When do you need a stress ECG?

There are several reasons your doctor may request a Stress ECG including:

  • Exclusion of ischaemic heart disease (significant coronary artery blockage)

  • Fitness to drive (commercial heavy vehicle licence or private licence)

  • Fitness for joining a gym or a specific exercise program

  • Fitness for surgery from a cardiac perspective

  • Exclusion of sinister exertional arrhythmia

  • Assess for a normal chronotropic response to exercise (normal physiological increase in heart rate during exercise and reduction in heart rate with recovery)