These nine commonly used tests will help you see your heart clearly.
Patients who have been to the hospital to screen for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases may have this experience? These cardiology tests that doctors prescribe to patients are all. Cardiologists will take you to know nine commonly used examination items, such as electrocardiogram, cardiac color ultrasound, coronary artery CT and angiography. In fact, various examination items and contents in cardiology department have their different functions and meanings. Choose the appropriate examination method according to the chief complaint and symptoms of each patient. 9 common cardiac examination items 1. Blood biochemical examination mainly includes blood glucose, blood lipids, myocardial enzymes, liver function, renal function, troponin, brain natriuretic peptide and so on. "according to this, we can diagnose whether there are arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction and myocardial hypertrophy. 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram can continuously monitor the ECG activity of patients. Help find those usually hidden arrhythmias and asymptomatic myocardial ischemia and other diseases. The project helps to screen for concealed hypertension and nocturnal hypertension.
"I just went to the hospital to have a brief look at a 'chest tightness'. Why did the doctor ask me to do so many tests? was it 'excessive medical treatment'?" Patients who have been to the hospital to screen for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases may have this experience. Blood sampling and laboratory tests require a lot of items. But you may not know that these cardiology examinations prescribed by doctors to patients are all "performing their own duties". As the saying goes, "there is specialization in the technical profession." these examinations are not optional or not.
Today, cardiologists are here to show you nine common tests that doctors use to see the heart "clearly".
There are more than a dozen items for the "physical examination" of the heart.
There are more than a dozen common examination items in the department of cardiology, in addition to the traditional blood tests, such as blood lipids, blood glucose, liver and kidney function, BNP, etc., as well as electrocardiogram, cardiac color ultrasound, coronary CT and angiography.
However, if there are too many inspection items, there will be many questions.... "Doctor, recently I feel a little stuffy and short of breath. The hospital drew blood and tested the blood biochemistry, then asked me to do color ultrasound and electrocardiogram, and suggested that I do another CT. Do I need to do so many tests? How much money it will cost unjustly! " Maybe some patients complain like that.
In fact, all kinds of examination items and contents in the department of cardiology have their different functions and meanings, and only by understanding their necessity can we understand why these examinations are done.
Clinically, in order to determine the diagnosis of a disease, a variety of examinations are often needed to cooperate. In addition, even for a disease, the diagnosis is not limited to one. Doctors will follow the principle of "only choose what is right, not expensive", and choose the appropriate examination method according to each patient's chief complaint and symptoms. The ultimate goal is: early detection, early treatment, early recovery!
This is a "manual" about the heart.
The heart is located in the chest, with both sides adjacent to the lungs. The outermost part of the heart is surrounded by the pericardium, and the inside is not solid-there are four chambers and their accessory structures. If you think of the heart as a house, it is a "small single house" with four rooms (two atriums and two ventricles), perfect plumbing and electrical system.
Room
Left atrium, left ventricular, right atrium, right ventricle
Doors and windows
Mitral valve, aortic valve, tricuspid valve, pulmonary valve
Wall
Atrial septum, interventricular septum, free wall myocardial tissue that makes up atrioventricular chambers
Water pipe
Coronary artery and its branches and veins at all levels
9 common examination items for "penetrating" the heart
1. Blood biochemistry
The examination mainly included blood glucose, blood lipids, myocardial enzymes, liver function, renal function, troponin, brain natriuretic peptide and so on.
two。 Electrocardiogram
When the heart is damaged or necrotic due to ischemia, the ECG activity will also be abnormal, and the amplified "waveform" is directly reflected in the ECG. Based on this, we can diagnose whether there are arrhythmia, myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, myocardial hypertrophy and other diseases.
3.24-hour dynamic electrocardiogram
That is, "Holter". Compared with ordinary static ECG, 24-hour dynamic ECG can continuously monitor the ECG activity of patients and help detect hidden arrhythmias and asymptomatic myocardial ischemia.
4.24-hour ambulatory blood pressure
Blood pressure can be said to be changing all the time, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure can grasp the overall blood pressure changes within a day. The project is helpful to screen concealed hypertension and nocturnal hypertension, to grade hypertension, to judge the circadian rhythm type of hypertension, and to evaluate the effect of antihypertensive drugs.
5. Exercise treadmill test
Also known as "exercise load test". Some patients with coronary heart disease are as normal as healthy people in a quiet state. Only by increasing cardiac load and increasing myocardial oxygen consumption can potential pathological changes be triggered. During the examination, the subjects were asked to carry the relevant monitoring equipment on the treadmill from walking to running, slowly increase the intensity of activity, and then observe the changes of electrocardiogram and blood pressure in this process. Exercise treadmill tests are also often used to guide safe exercise in healthy people and patients with heart disease.
6. Colour Sonography
It is equivalent to the doctor's "perspective eye", which can dynamically show whether the heart structure is solid, whether the valve closure is tight, whether the myocardial contraction and relaxation is normal, whether the blood flow is smooth, and so on.
7. Carotid artery color Doppler ultrasound
This examination can clearly show the carotid lumen, accurately measure and locate intimal thickening, plaque, stenosis and occlusion, and provide a basis for early prevention of atherosclerosis.
8. Coronary artery CT
CT imaging can be used to simulate the patient's coronary system, so it is possible to observe whether the blood vessels are clogged or ruptured. Coronary CT can also measure the specific conditions of coronary stenosis, calcified plaque and coronary artery wall. When we suspect that patients have coronary heart disease, coronary CT is an important option. If the test results are normal, there is no need for further examination.
9. Coronary angiography
The enhanced version of coronary CT integrates diagnosis and treatment (stent implantation or coronary balloon dilatation can be completed at the same time during angiographic examination). Coronary angiography needs to send the catheter to the patient's coronary artery, so it can more intuitively determine the location, degree and extent of the lesion, which is regarded as the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of coronary heart disease. However, coronary angiography is a "traumatic" examination.
/ Wang Fang (Beijing Hospital)
Source: Beijing Youth Daily