Services

ABI & Segmental Pressure Study is a test that uses doppler ultrasound to assess the arterial circulation in your legs.

Carotid (ka­ROT­id) ultrasound is a painless and harmless test that uses high-frequency sound waves to create pictures of the insides of your carotid arteries. You have two common carotid arteries, one on each side of your neck. They each divide into internal and external carotid arteries. The internal carotid arteries supply oxygen­rich blood to your brain. The external carotid arteries supply oxygen­rich blood to your face, scalp, and neck.

Contrast echocardiography is a technique for improving echocardiographic resolution and providing real time assessment of intracardiac blood flow. Agitated saline contrast provides contrast in the right heart and enables detection of right to left shunts. Opacification of the left ventricular (LV) cavity by contrast agents developed to traverse the pulmonary vasculature permits improved endocardial border detection. Contrast echocardiography can also enhance delineation of Doppler signal. Additional uses of contrast echocardiography are to assess myocardial perfusion and viability.

Doctors use a test called an EKG (electrocardiogram) to help diagnosis various cardiac conditions and arrhythmias. This test detects and records the heart’s electrical activity. An EKG records the strength and timing of electrical signals as they pass through the heart. The data are recorded on a graph so your doctor can study your heart’s electrical activity. Different parts of the graph show each step of an electrical signal’s journey through the heart.

A Holter monitor is a machine that continuously records the heart’s rhythms. The monitor is worn for 24-48 hours during normal activity.

Cardiovascular Health Clinic offers a wide variety of onsite lab services.

A loop recorder is a machine that continuously records the heart’s rhythm. This monitor is worn from 1 week up to 1 month.

Nuclear imaging is used to show how well your heart muscle is working to pump blood to your body. It is most often used to detect a decrease in blood flow to the heart from narrowing in the coronary arteries.

Patients with pacemakers require intermittent checks of their device to assess the function of the device. Pacemaker interrogation can also be used to look for other types of arrhythmias that patients may be experiencing.

A renal artery ultrasound is a test that uses sound waves to image the blood flow to the kidney arteries. Reduction of blood flow to the kidney as the result of narrowing in the renal arteries can at times be a contributing factor in patients with difficult to control hypertension.

Cardiovascular Health Clinic is dedicated to providing the best in care through participation in various research trials.

Resistant hypertension has several possible causes, including one or more other underlying medical conditions. In addition to treating RH with medications, doctors typically investigate secondary causes, such as:

• Abnormalities in the hormones that control blood pressure.
• The accumulation of artery-clogging plaque in blood vessels that nourish the kidneys, a condition called renal artery stenosis. Opening the blocked arteries with balloon angioplasty often improves blood pressure.
• Sleep problems, such as the breath-holding type of snoring known as obstructive sleep apnea, can affect blood pressure.
• Obesity, heavy alcohol intake and other substances can interfere with high blood pressure and cause RH.

Some patients might seem to have RH based on their blood pressure measurements taken in a doctor’s office or hospital, but are actually controlled when measured outside those settings. This is often called the “white-coat” effect. This could lead to unnecessary increases in dose or number of antihypertensive medications. Devices that take several blood pressure measurements automatically at preprogrammed intervals, without an observer present, may be useful to mitigate the white-coat effect.

Stress echocardiography is a test that uses ultrasound imaging to show how well your heart muscle is working to pump blood to your body. It is most often used to detect a decrease in blood flow to the heart from narrowing in the coronary arteries.

A tilt table test is used to evaluate the cause of unexplained fainting (syncope). Your doctor may recommend a tilt table test if you’ve had repeated, unexplained episodes of fainting. A tilt table test may also be appropriate to investigate the cause of fainting if you’ve fainted only once, but another episode would put you at high risk of injury due to your work environment, medical history, age or other factors. For a tilt table test, you begin by lying flat on a table. Straps are put around your body to hold you in place. After about 15 minutes of lying flat, the table is quickly tilted to raise your body to a head­up position — simulating a change in position from lying down to standing up. The table will then remain upright for up to 45 minutes, while your heart rate and blood pressure are monitored. This allows doctors to evaluate your body’s cardiovascular response to the change in position.

An exercise stress test is used to measure the effect of exercise on your heart.

Ultrasound is a type of imaging. It uses high ­frequency sound waves to look at organs and structures inside the body. Health care professionals use it to view the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver, and other organs. Unlike x rays, ultrasound does not expose you to radiation. During an ultrasound test, you lie on a table. A special technician or doctor moves a device called a transducer over part of your body. The transducer sends out sound waves, which bounce off the tissues inside your body. The transducer also captures the waves that bounce back. The ultrasound machine creates images from the sound waves.

Venous duplex is a painless procedure that uses ultrasound imaging to assess various conditions from DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) to conditions that can lead to swelling and poor wound healing of the legs.