The Imaging Center performs Nuclear Medicine stress testing to determine cardiac profusion, as well as echocardiography studies to examine cardiac function.

Thallium/Cardiolite Exercise Stress Test (Nuclear Medicine)

• Exam Time: apporiximately 2.5-3 hours
• Preparations: Nothing to eat or drink (except water) after midnight on the night before your exam. *Diabetics may have toast and juice for breakfast. Wear comfortable shoes and clothing. Bring a list of current medications.
• Description: A stress test with Cardiolite/Thallium usually consists of taking pictures of your heart in two phases: while resting and after stress.

1. Cardiolite/Thallium will be injected while you are at rest and the special camera will take pictures of your heart.
2. Cardiolite/Thallium will be injected during the stress portion of the test and pictures will be taken of your heart. If you are unable to exercise, you may be given a drug, by injection, intended to have a similar effect on the heart to that of exercise.
    

Our board-certified cardiologist will tell you how many phases of the test there will be. If there are two phases, the doctor giving the test will inform you if the exercise or rest portion of the study will be done first, and if the entire test can be completed in 1 day or on 2 seperate days. These two sets of pictures allow the doctor to compare the amount of blood flowing through your heart muscle during rest and under stress. In both portions of the test, the pictures are usually taken between a half-hour and 1.5 hours after you have received Cardiolite/Thallium.

Adenosine/Persantine Stress Tests

• Exam Time: 2.5-3 hours
• Preparations: Nothing to eat or drink (except water) after midnight on the night before your exam. Wear comfortable shoes and clothing. Bring list of medications. No caffeine for 24 hours before exam (includes decaf coffee and tea, chocolate, soda with caffeine, and some aspirin products. No persantine or dipyridamol for 24 hours before exam. No theophylline medications for 24 hours before exam. Patients with asthma or sever emphysema should inform the cardiologist and technologist before having this test.
• Description: This test is very similar to the Cardiolite/Thallium procedure. Adenosine and Persantine are agents that simulate exercise.
• All Stress tests are administered by a board certified Cardiologist

2D Echocardiography

• Exam Time: 1 hour
• Preparations: No caffeine for 24 hours before the exam. Eat a light meal for breakfast.
• Description: An echocardiogram is a test in which ultrasound is used to examine the heart. Two- dimensional (2-D) Echo is capable of displaying a cross-sectional "slice" of the beating heart, including the chambers, valves and the major blood vessels that exit from the left and right ventricle.
• All Echocardiograms are read by a board-certified Cardiologist