Angina – Diagnosis Physical Exam

Transcript

Exam. There’s not often a lot of findings on the physical exam when it comes to diagnosis of angina. Although if a patient has, you know, brueys, which is sounds in their neck or in their abdomen, and obviously have murmurs or other findings that can help in the diagnostic process, what really helps is an EKG. But remember a normal EKG at rest doesn’t necessarily mean the heart arteries are normal and the patient usually does not have respite, they have exertional pain. So a treadmill stress test is a test that helps us put the patient on a treadmill, hook them up to EKG and look to see what happens at peak exercise. That’s a good way to diagnose coronary disease. If you’re worried about stability, then the best diagnostic test, maybe what we call a coronary angiogram, whether that’s done by CAT scan or by invasive angiography or heart catheterization is really up to the clinician and the patient. Once you identify the blockage, then you have options.