Cardiac Testing

The Heart Hospital at Northwest Texas Healthcare System offers a range of diagnostic tools to assess and monitor cardiac disorders and conditions.

Non-Invasive Testing

The Northwest Texas Healthcare cardiac laboratory is equipped with noninvasive tools to help diagnose cardiac disorders, and provide doctors with information about heart valves, heart muscle and the coronary arteries, as well as possible congenital heart abnormalities. Exercise testing tools include:

• Treadmill stress testing
• Pharmacologic nuclear perfusion scans
• Exercise nuclear perfusion scans
• Exercise echocardiograms

Echocardiography includes:

• Dobutamine echocardiograms
• ASD and PFO Closures

The vascular laboratory includes:

• Venous, arterial and carotid studies
• Other cardiac nuclear studies

Cardiac Catheterization for Diagnosis and Treatment

The Heart Hospital has three dedicated catheterization labs. Cardiac catheterization involves the use of radiological equipment to diagnose and treat heart disease. Interventional tools such as balloons and stents are fed through a catheter into the coronary arteries to reduce stenosis and improve blood flow. Diagnostics include:

• Stress Test
• Nuclear stress test
• Bone scan
• Cardiac perfusion
• Cardiac calcium scoring
• Aspirin test
• Echocardiography
• Cardiac hemodynamic measurement
• Coronary angiography
• Endomyocardial biopsy

Interventional services include:

• Angiography cryoplasty
• Balloon angioplasty
• Coronary atherectomy
• Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)
• Stents catherectomy
• Carotid stent
• Intracoronary thrombolysis
• Primary angioplasty for acute heart attack patients

Diagnosing and Treating Cardiac Arrhythmia

The Electrophysiology Lab provides diagnostic and treatment options for people with heart rhythm disturbances. Our team of electrophysiologists provide in-hospital and by-appointment diagnostic electrophysiological testing. Diagnostics include:

• 24- to 48-hour ambulatory Holter ECG monitoring
• Signal average electrocardiograms
• Tilt table testing

Treatments include:

• Coronary ablation
• Defibrillator/Pacemaker implantation
• Antiarrhythmic drug therapy

Pediatric Echocardiograms

Northwest Texas Healthcare System offers pediatric echocardiograms. An echocardiogram is an ultrasound test that uses high frequency sound waves to create pictures of the heart. The pictures created are more detailed than a standard X-ray and do not expose the patient to radiation. The test can help diagnose a wide range of heart problems, including congenital anomalies.

Low Dose CT Scans of the Chest

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Low dose computed tomography (CT) scans of the chest are used in lung cancer screening and may be recommended for people at a high risk of developing lung cancer. Talk to your doctor to learn more about lung cancer screening and if it could benefit you.

MRI Renal Angiograms Without Contrast

These magnetic resonance imaging scans concentrate on the renal arteries. Unlike other tests used to image the renal arteries, this exam does not require an intravenous contrast agent. The test is used to diagnose renal artery stenosis, which is a narrowing of the blood vessels in the kidneys.