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Cardiac Nuclear Exercise

Cardiac nuclear exercise tests often take three separate tests to document blockages to the arteries.

Preparing for the scan test

Initial Resting Images in Nuclear Medicine

First an image is taken (myocardial perfusion scan) to assess blood flow to the heart muscle. This is done in UMC's Nuclear Medicine Department located on the basement floor.

Here a radioactive substance called a tracer (thallium or technetium) is injected into an arm vein. The radioactive tracer temporarily marks the red blood cells to allow the doctor to document blood flow to the heart muscle.

Once the tracer has been injected into the bloodstream, a special camera views the amount of the tracer that reaches the heart muscle (this procedure is called scintigraphy).

Injecting a dilating agent

Drug Infusion (Nuclear or Dilating Agent)

  • Then on UMC's 4th Floor Cardiac Services, the patient may take an exercise stress treadmill test, during which the heart muscle is purposely stressed while its function is simultaneously measured. At peak exercise, a nuclear agent is given. The doctor and medical staff also analyze an electrocardiogram (EKG) rhythm printout of the electrical activity of the heart.
  • For those patients unable to walk the exercise stress treadmill test, a dilating agent is given, followed by a dose of tracer or nuclear agent. If a vessel is blocked, it doesn't pick up as much of the tracer substance. The images will show less tracer substance in the areas of the heart supplied by a blocked artery.

Additional images taken in Nuclear Medicine

Another set of computerized camera images are taken back in Nuclear Medicine to determine the blood flow to the heart muscle following both the exercise treadmill and the dilating agent tests. These images reflect the blood flow at peak exercise or at peak openness of the vessels. The color intensity changes on the computer images, which helps determine the activity in the blood flow to the heart muscle.

Other names for these types of cardiac nuclear tests may be:

  • Nuclear Stress Test.
  • MIBI stress tests.
  • Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy.
  • Thallium myocardial imaging.
  • Thallium stress scintigram/test.
  • Exercise radioisotope scans.
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