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Key Points
- A nuclear heart scan is a type of medical test
that allows your doctor to get important information about the health of your
heart. The test uses radioactive tracers to study how blood flows in your
heart.
- Nuclear heart scans are used to provide
information about the flow of blood throughout the heart muscle, check for
damaged heart muscle, and see how well your heart pumps blood to your body.
- The two main types of nuclear heart scanning are
single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) and cardiac positron
emission tomography (PET). SPECT is the most well-established and widely used
type, while PET is newer.
- A nuclear heart scan often takes two sets of
pictures, one while the heart is beating faster than normal and one when the
heart is resting. To get your heart to beat faster than normal, you will be
asked to exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike, or you will be given
medicine.
- After the exercise part of the test, you will lie
very still on a padded table. A camera called a gamma camera will take pictures
of your heart from various positions around your body.
- A nuclear heart scan can take a lot of
timesometimes 2 to 5 hours in a single day. You may be asked to return on
a second day for another set of pictures.
- Most people can go back to their normal daily
activities after a nuclear heart scan.
- Your doctor or the cardiologist or radiologist
who performed the nuclear heart scan will contact you with the results.
- A nuclear heart scan can help doctors:
- Diagnose and manage certain heart diseases
such as
coronary
artery disease (CAD)
- Determine your risk for a
heart
attack
- Decide whether other heart tests or
procedures will help you
- Monitor procedures or surgeries that have
been done
- Nuclear heart scanning has very few risks. If you
have CAD, you may have chest pain during exercise or when you take medicine to
increase your heart rate. Some people may be allergic to the radioactive tracer
used during the scan, but this is very rare.
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What Are the Risks Links
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