Cardiopulmonary stress testing
The stress test, also called ergometry, involves performing physical exercise with an exercise bike or a treadmill. Thanks to this technique, the specialist can diagnose or study an illness that has already been diagnosed that might not manifest itself when the patients are resting.
What is it for?
It is used to diagnose cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that usually do not manifest in resting conditions or to study the progress and condition of an illness that has already been diagnosed.
How does it work?
Before performing the stress test, two electrocardiograms must be taken, one with the patient lying down and the other with the patient standing up.
Afterwards, the test is performed during which the patient must exercise on a treadmill or exercise bike. As the test progresses, the difficulty increases gradually, in accordance with an established protocol. The duration of the test is 6 to 12 minutes, during which continuous electrocardiographic monitoring is taken and hypertension is measured several times.
During the test, the specialist should be especially careful at the point of maximum effort to detect angina and difficulties breathing or finishing the test.
Risks
Changes in the heart beat and blood pressure can sometimes appear