Cardiac Imaging
Gympie Radiology provides a wide range of cardiac imaging services daily, including Echocardiography, CT Coronary Angiography and Nuclear Myocardial Perfusion.
Preparing for your examination
Please be aware that all Cardiac Imaging requires an appointment. Please call us to arrange a time.
What to bring:
- A referral from your GP or specialist to have the examination
- Medicare card
- Pension/concession card
- Previous films from other clinics relating to the area being scanned with us
Please tell us if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
You may be required to have a consultation prior to the examination. Some procedures require preparation including fasting and being well hydrated. You should continue taking all prescribed medications as usual. Please contact Gympie Radiology staff to organise an appointment.
Reasons for Cardiac Imaging
ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY
This is an ultrasound of the heart and is performed by a qualified technician using a dedicated ultrasound probe and software. This examination is predominantly used to assess function of the cardiac chambers and valves.
The examination is performed by an echocardiographer. It may take up to 45 minutes and requires changing into a gown.
CT CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY
Every day adults with no symptoms of heart disease fall victim to the "silent killer". Each year more than 100,000 people will die of heart attacks before they reach a hospital. For both men and women, heart disease claims more lives than the next six causes of death combined. Because symptoms such as chest pain do not usually occur until the very late stages of disease, many individuals are not aware that a problem or condition exists until it is too late.
With the latest CT technology at Gympie Radiology, we now have the ability to see crisp, clean video of the heart and coronary arteries. Your GP can request a CT scan of the heart and chest that will give you a measure of your heart health before any symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath occur. Consider it a one-stop heart check-up with an analysis of the coronary arteries, valves and myocardial mass. Prior to 64 detector technology, assessment of the coronary arteries was only available by inserting a catheter into a leg artery, which generally involves day admission to hospital.
NUCLEAR MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION
Myocardial perfusion studies are a non-invasive and reproducible procedure to demonstrate blood flow to the heart, or myocardium. A tracer is administered intravenously at rest and after stress. Patient's can be stressed using a treadmill or by administration of a pharmaceutical. This gives functional information of areas of the heart which receive reduced blood flow at stress, indicating a significant narrowing to one or more of the coronary arteries.