Heart disease diagnosis

The heart disease tests you'll need to diagnose your heart disease depend on what condition your provider thinks you might have. No matter what type of heart disease you have, your provider will likely perform a physical exam and ask about your personal and family medical history before doing any tests.

Heart disease test

Here are some of the key screening tests^[9] for monitoring your heart health:

• Blood pressure: High blood pressure greatly increases your risk of heart disease.
• Fasting lipoprotein profile (cholesterol): A blood test can measure your total cholesterol levels, including LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good) cholesterol.
• Body weight: Your provider may ask for your waist circumference or use your body weight to calculate your body mass index (BMI). Being obese puts you at higher risk for heart disease.
• Blood glucose: Your provider may recommend a blood glucose test to measure the amount of glucose in your blood (blood sugar). A high blood glucose level puts you at greater risk of heart disease.

Besides these screening tests, tests to diagnose heart disease^[10] can include:

• Chest X-Ray: A chest x-ray shows a picture of the heart, lungs, and bones of the chest. It can show the location, size, and shape of your heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG): An ECG records your heart’s electrical signals and can help your healthcare provider detect irregularities in your heartbeat. You may have an ECG while you're at rest or while exercising (stress electrocardiogram).
• Holter monitoring: A Holter monitor is a portable device you wear to record a continuous ECG, usually for 24 to 72 hours. Holter monitoring is used to detect heart rhythm irregularities that aren't found during a regular ECG exam.
• Echocardiogram: This noninvasive exam, which includes an ultrasound of your chest, shows detailed images of your heart's structure and function.
• Stress test: This type of test raises your heart rate with exercise or medicine while your provider performs heart tests and imaging to check how your heart responds.
• Cardiac catheterization: In this test, a short tube is inserted into a vein or artery in your leg, groin, or arm. This test can measure the pressures in your heart chambers. A dye can be injected through the tube and be seen on an X-ray, which helps your provider see the blood flow through your heart, blood vessels and valves while checking for abnormalities.
• Cardiac computerized tomography (CT) scan: In a cardiac CT scan, you lie on a table inside a doughnut-shaped machine. An X-ray tube inside the machine rotates around your body and collects images of your heart and chest.
• Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): For this test, you lie on a table inside a long tube-like machine that produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field produces pictures to help your provider evaluate your heart.