Heart Disease Community

Hi Tammy:

A very frightening experience no doubt.

Some years ago, my father had a persantine/thallium stress test, and never made it to the nuclear scan part, as the persantine (stressor agent) damn-near killed him (caused the worst chest pain ever), and he already had coronary artery disease, multi-vessel bypass and several angioplasties.

"I cannot go thru that again."

Perhaps a different pharmacological stress agent would make a world of difference, or if not, perhaps you could inquire about a non-invasive 64-slice Cardiac CT scan (heart scan), which doesn't require the heart to be put under stress, physically, or stressor agent-induced, which as reported, allows doctors to view/examine the heart and the coronary arteries in never-before-seen detail.

Much better yet though, as reported, and as available, the new 320-slice Cardiac CT scanners can measure subtle changes in blood flow, or minute blockages forming in blood vessels, no bigger than the average width of a toothpick (1.5 mm) in the heart, and the brain. Also as applicable, as availablem there is non-invasive Cardiac MRI (a "heart-specific" magnetic resonance imaging technology).

ALWAYS be proactive in your health care and treatment. Sometimes this requires being assertive. Most important, communicate/interact well with your doctors. Best of luck down the road of life.

Take care,

CardioStar☆

WebMD community member (8/99)

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☑ Be well-informed

Lexiscan

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

www.lexiscan.com/home.php

Drugs com

Lexiscan

Side effects

www.drugs.com/lexiscan.html

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Non-invasively Scanning the Heart

[Randomly-selected sites>

Hi-tech X-rays, 64-slice Cardiac CT info

WPIX

A 62-year old man was taken by surprise when he went to see his heart specialist. He had an abnormal stress test......

wb11.empowereddoctor.com/story.php?id=467

Heart Scan

www.heartscanofchicago.com/heart_scan.html

NWA

Heart scan allows 3-D view

www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg&section=Business&storyid=108900

RadiologyInfo - The Radiology Information Resource for Patients

Cardiac MRI

www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=cardiacmr

American ♥ Association

Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging

www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3005170

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Coronary artery anatomy

☞Starting with the left anterior descending (LAD), the most critical coronary artery, next to the ultra-critical left left main (LM).

www.heartsite.com/html/lad.html

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Good to know, for the primary and secondary prevention of heart attack and brain attack/stroke

Epidemiologic studies (EDS) have revealed risk factors for atherosclerosis (typically affectsing thecoronary, carotid, and peripheral arteries), which includes age, gender, genetics (gene deletion, malfunction, or mutation), diabetes (considered as being the highest risk factor), smoking (includes secondhand), inactivity, obesity (a global epidemic, "globesity"), high blood pressure (hypertension), diet high in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, high LDL, high Lp(a), high ApoB, high Lp-PLA2, high triglycerides, LOW HDL (less than 40 mg/dL, an HDL level of 60/65 mg/dL or more is considered protective against dreaded coronary artery disease), high homocysteine, and high C-reactive protein (CRP/hs-CRP).

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Quote

☞"Be a questioning patient. Talk to your doctor and ask questions. Studies show that patients who ask the most questions, and are most assertive, get the best results. Be vigilant and speak up!"

- Charles Inlander, People's Medical Society

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It's your future......be there.

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☛WebMD/WebMD message boards does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

☛WebMD does not endorse any specific product, service, or treatment.

Regarding the "bad batch" of radiotracer, just curious as to which specific type were you given?

C☆

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L@@K Back in the Media

A shortage of a radioisotope used in performing nuclear stress tests.

USA TODAY

Medical isotope shortage threatens treatments - 8/14/09

The shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Canada has caused a shortage of a radioactive isotope used to detect cancers and heart disease, forcing doctors into costlier procedures that can be less effective and expose patients to more radioactivity.

Some 16 million people in the United States, 40,000 patients each day, undergo medical imaging procedures using the isotope, technetium-99. Eighty percent of nuclear medicine scans use it.

☞A little over half of technetium-99 used in the United States goes for heart imaging.......

www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-14-isotope-shortage_N.htm

Hi CardioStar, Thank you so much for your response and all the information you shared. I read it all. This is all new to me and now I know I have options and what they might be. This will be helpful when my cardiologist and I decide what the best next step will be. Thank you again Gratefully Tammy

Cardiostar, I do not know what I was given as the radiotracer but I was told they were going to make up "a new batch" for me the next day. After reading your info about the shortage and that it had to be made daily because it only lasts 6 to 12 hours it could have very well have been the problem. Thanks Again Tammy

You're welcome.

A knowledgeable patient is the best patient of all.

Take good care,

C☆

I had this test on May 24, 2011 it was a 2 day test this test made me deathly sick at my stomach also very very weak and very gases today is the 29th and I am no better also in the test my blood pressure went sky high I have copd and on oxygen. I went the next day for pictures of my heart this was all done at a Hospital. How do I get better also they mention in the room about a bad batch.I would like to hear back from other people. Thanks June

Just a note on the links to AmericanHeart.org... we have updated the URL to heart.org, so if you try to access the link, go there instead.

Thanks!!