Cardiac Nuclear Medicine

Cardiac nuclear medicine evaluates the heart for coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy. Other uses may include testing the heart to determine whether if it has been damaged by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It produces images that show the distribution of blood flow to the heart muscle and the function of the heart.

Using the combination of imaging while the heart is resting and while it is under some form of physical stress allow the tech to produce the images that are then read by a cardiologist to diagnose many heart issues.

Preparation for this test:

-Please come fasting for a minimum of 8 hours prior to your test (this includes all food and water)

- We ask that you also do not have any caffeine or caffeinated products for 24 hours prior to your test. This includes, but is not limited to: Coffee, chocolate, tea, and all caffeinated beverages.

- No Persantine, Theophylline, or Theophylline containing drugs (such as Constant-T Primatene, Quibron, Slo-Phyllin, or Theo-Dur.).

Please bring a list of your prescription medications with you.

• To obtain an optimum EKG tracing during the stress portion of this exam, the patient should not apply any lotion or powder to their chest.

• If you are doing a treadmill stress you will need to wear comfortable clothing, and shoes you can wear to walk/run on the treadmill.

**All other meds including cardiac specific meds should be taken as your physician specified.**

For all nuclear medicine questions please refer here.