BY JULIA HIGGINS

Cardiovascular System

Stress tests are tests determine the amount of stress that your heart can manage before developing an abnormal rhythm or the start of ischemia. An EKG and oxygen levels are taken while the patient performs the test.

3 Common Stress Tests: Treadmill stress test: patient walks on a

treadmill or rides a bike until chest pain develops or the EKG shows the heart is not receiving enough blood flow. Most common stress test.

Adenosine stress test: No exercise required here. A drug is given to the patient to initiate a response from the heart as if the patient was exercising.

Stress echocardiogram: A graphic outline of the heart’s movement, sometimes revealing if the heart is receiving a lack of blood flow.

Stress Tests

Thrombolytic Therapy is a type of heart medication administered in hospital settings intravenously (through the veins) to break up block clots.

Reasons these medications are used: To prevent the ongoing damage of heart

attacks. To prevent ongoing damage from ischemic

stroke. To break up blood clots in other blood vessels

in the body.

Heart attack and Ischemic stroke are two major risks that these medications try to prevent.

Thrombolytic Therapy

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A Doppler ultra sound uses sound waves to see how blood flows through a blood vessel.

Helps evaluate major arteries and veins, especially those in arms, legs, and the neck.

This test can reveal blocked or reduced blood flow through narrowing in the major arteries of the neck that could, which could cause a stroke. Also it can show clots in the legs that run the risk of breaking loose and traveling to the lungs and blocking the flow there.

A Doppler ultrasound may also be used during pregnancy to observe the blood flow of the fetus.

Examples of different Doppler tests: Bedside- uses change in pitch to evaluate blood flow Color- uses standard ultrasound machine to produce

a picture of the blood vessel and surrounding organs, then the sounds are converted into colors to represent speed and color of the blood flow

Duplex- uses standard ultrasound machine to produce a picture of the blood vessel and surrounding organs, then they are converted into a graph depicting the speed and direction of the blood flow

Doppler Ultrasound

Color DopplerColor Doppler

Carotid Doppler UltrasoundCarotid Doppler Ultrasound

Carotid ultrasound is a painless and harmless test that uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of the insides of the two large arteries in the neck. The carotid arteries supply blood to the brain. There is one carotid artery on each side of the neck. 

A buildup or blockage is very serious and could lead to a stroke when in the Carotid arteries.

Doppler Ultrasound cont.