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Your heart's main job is to pump blood throughout your body providing essential oxygen and nutrients for all your body's functions. It is also the heart that helps return the blood after the oxygen and nutrients have been used by your body. It is your heart's beating that creates your pulse.
There are 4 chambers in the heart - all receive and pump blood. The right side of the heart has an upper and lower chamber, called the right auricle and the right ventricle. The right side of the heart is responsible for receiving blood from the body and then pumping it to the lungs to get rid of carbon dioxide and receive oxygen. The left side of the heart has similar chambers called the left auricle and left ventricle, which receive blood from the lungs and then pump it out to the body and the heart muscle.
Read more on the ekg test on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Your heart has its own electrical system. Your heart's beats are controlled by small areas in the heart called "nodes", which generate impulses that cause the chambers to contract in the proper sequence. When your doctor performs an electrocardiogram (EKG), it is the path these impulses take that tells if your heart is healthy.
An EKG is a simple test where small sticky patches are applied to your arms, legs and chest. Then connectors and wires return the information to the EKG machine, which prints the pattern of your heart beats on paper. It is not a dangerous procedure and will not cause pain. What is an electrocardiogram ? Read more on electrocardiograms on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Another heart test your doctor may order is an ECHO cardiogram, which shows how your blood is pumped though the chambers of the heart. It will also show how well the valves in your heart are performing. The valves prevent back flow of blood when your heart beats. This test is not painful.
More information on ECHO cardiograms is available on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Sometimes, your doctor may want to see the pattern of your heart over a longer period of time and a "Holter" monitoring test may be ordered. When you have this test done, the sticky patches are applied and you will be wearing a small recording unit, which you can wear on a belt or on a strap over your shoulder or around your neck. You go home to perform your usual routines and wear the unit for the period of time ordered by your doctor; it is not uncomfortable. You would not be able to get the recording unit wet.
Another commonly ordered heart test is an Exercise Tolerance Test, sometimes called a "treadmill" or a "stress test". During this procedure, the sticky patches are applied to your skin and the EKG reading is done while you are walking on a treadmill. This will tell your Doctor how well your heart functions when you are active. This test is not painful, unless you experience chest discomfort when you are walking. This test is done in an office or hospital. Read more about stress testing on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Another routinely performed test is a cardiac (heart) angiogram. This test is usually performed in a hospital. During this exam, a long catheter is passed through a vein in the groin area up to the heart and a dye is injected to observe the amount of blood that flows through the blood vessels in the heart muscle. The doctor is looking to see if any blockage of the heart's blood supply can be seen. More information on cardiac angiograms and catheterizations is available on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Sometimes, a special device called a stent can be placed in a narrowed blood vessel to open an area of blockage. At times, it may be necessary to replace blocked blood vessels with another one of your own blood vessels, usually taken from your leg. These procedures cause enough discomfort that you will be given medications to make you comfortable and you will remain in the hospital for observation and further care. More information about stents is available on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
More information about your heart is available on the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) website.
Healthy hearts can best be protected by controlling the risk factors that lead to heart disease. You cannot control your age or sex or family history, but you can control your cholesterol, blood pressure, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use and obesity. More information on heart disease risk factors and prevention is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Lillian Klingenberger, RN, BSN
