Heart disease is known as the “Silent Killer,” often because we don’t know we have it. The symptoms can be quite obvious or very vague.
As a part of determining your cardiac health, The Heart Center at Lancaster General provides advanced diagnostic testing to give you and your doctor the information you need to make informed decisions.
The array of tests offered at Lancaster General are non-invasive, and allow our specialized team of experts the opportunity to see how your heart is working when at rest and during physical activity.
The electrical activity of your heart can be analyzed and the size and motions of your heart can be recorded. Looking at the heart this way will help us determine if heart disease is present.
These tests are outpatient procedures. The results are interpreted by our cardiologists, and relayed to the patient in a matter of days.
The Heart Center utilizes the very latest technology in evaluating potential problems with the heart. The department has four nuclear cameras, along with treadmills, for the evaluation of potential causes for chest pain. Our 3-D echocardiography ultrasound machines help diagnose heart-structure abnormalities.
Specifically, The Heart Center provides these non-invasive screening tests:
Electrocardiogram (ECG)—This machine painlessly records the “electrical” activity of the heart, including the timing and duration of each phase of the heartbeat.
Holter Monitoring—If you feel your heart “skips a beat” or “flutters,” and your ECG was normal, your physician may order you to wear a holter monitor. A Holter records the activity of your heart continuously for 12 or 24 hours. The machine is lightweight and looks like a flat cell phone with leads attached to your chest.
Echocardiography—Using an ultrasound machine, a hand-held device is placed on the chest that uses high frequency sound waves to produce images of the heart’s size, structure and motion. Within a period of approximately 30 minutes, this device can detect murmurs and valvular disorders.
Exercise Stress Test—Electrodes are attached to the patient’s chest, enabling a monitor to record heart function as the patient walks. By increasing the speed and incline on a treadmill the heart muscle is challenged. For individuals who cannot walk or move well, a drug may be used for this same reason. The purpose of this test is to determine what areas of the heart may not be functioning well when working harder.
The Lancaster General Hospital Noninvasive Cardiology department is fully accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL) and the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL).
We perform about 15,000 echocardiograms, 3,500 stress tests, and 75,000 electrocardiograms per year. All of our physicians and technologists are highly trained and are credentialed in their respective fields.