I was going to have carpal tunnel surgery & had to have a routine EKG. My surgery was canceled as the EKG showed probable infarction. Now off the see a specialist. He too does his own EKG & it too came back abnormal. Not as bad as the first but not "normal". Now the specialist wants to do a nuclear stress test & echo-cardiogram. The doctor asks me if I can walk a tread mill. I could only tell him I would try. I have not had an infusion & so I am flaring pretty badly. I do have shortness of breath but I use to smoke to over 20 years. I quit about 10-12 years ago. Has anyone here had abnormal EKG? How reliable are the EKG?
I just did a stress test / echocardiogram to rule out cardiovascular issues for my dizziness / feeling like I'm going to pass out upon exertion (we had ruled out everything else with less expensive tests). My test came back completely normal.
The echo in particular is VERY comprehensive... they can see pretty much everything as the heart is pumping. Mine took quite awhile. My cardio specialist said that between the two tests they would have seen ANYTHING abnormal, and been able to trace the problem. It wouldn't hurt to get the echo, even if you can't do more than try the stress test.
Hi Liz.
On the echocardiogram they will look for any regional wall motion abnormalities of your left ventricle that could indicate a previous myocardial infarction. The nuclear stress test is looking for any coronary artery disease and similarly any damaged heart muscle. EKG's can give indications of problems and of MI's, but you need the other tests to accurately diagnose. Another test that may be done is a coronary angiogram if the echo or stress test are positive (or if you aren't able to walk on the treadmill). I've seen patients with abnormal EKG's turn out to have normal hearts and of course others do have problems. Your doctors are doing the correct testing. Let us know how you get on.