What tests help in Heart Attack diagnosis?

Once the emergency care team arrives, they will ask you about your symptoms and begin to evaluate you. The diagnosis of the heart attack is based on your symptoms, ECG and the results of your blood tests. The goal of treatment is to treat you quickly and limit heart muscle damage.
Tests you may take:

• ECG -- The ECG (also known as EKG or electrocardiogram) can tell how much damage has occurred to your heart muscle and where it has occurred. In addition, your heart rate and rhythm can be monitored.
• Blood tests -- Blood may be drawn to measure levels of cardiac enzymes that indicate heart muscle damage. These enzymes are normally found inside the cells of your heart and are needed for their function. When your heart muscle cells are injured, their contents -- including the enzymes -- are released into your bloodstream. By measuring the levels of these enzymes, the doctor can determine the size of the heart attack and approximately when the heart attack started. Troponin levels will also be measured. Troponins are proteins found inside of heart cells that are released when they are damaged by ischemia. Troponins can detect very small heart attacks.
• Echocardiography -- Echocardiography is an imaging test that can be used during and after a heart attack to learn how the heart is pumping and what areas are not pumping normally. The "echo" can also tell if any structures of the heart (valves, septum, etc.) have been injured during the heart attack.
• Cardiac catheterization -- Cardiac catheterization, also called cardiac cath or a coronary arteriogram, may be used during the first hours of a heart attack. The cardiac cath can be used to directly visualize the blocked artery and help your doctor determine which procedure is needed to treat the blockage.

While heart attacks can occur at any time, more heart attacks occur between 4:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. because of the higher blood levels of adrenaline released from the adrenal glands during the morning hours. Increased adrenaline, as previously discussed, may contribute to rupture of cholesterol plaques

Updated: January, 17 2008 14:40:32

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