Cardiology

From Our Heart to Yours

For you—and all the people that count on you—turn to Evanston Regional Hospital when it comes to your heart health. When you’re having a heart attack, minutes matter, so it’s important to be able to trust that you’ll receive quality, emergency care for your heart.

Diagnosing Your Heart’s Condition:

This is the critical first step in your care. At Evanston Regional Hospital we have advanced diagnostic capabilities to help determine the condition of your heart. Below are the tests that we use to help determine the health of your heart.

Nuclear Cardiology

Nuclear cardiology is used to evaluate blood flow to the heart muscle. A cardiac SPECT camera is used to obtain images that determine the blood flow and overall heart function. This test is often used as part of a stress test.

Adult Echocardiography

An Echocardiogram is a heart ultrasound which uses sound waves to create pictures of your heart.  This allows for the evaluation of the heart structure and function.  This technique also allows analysis of the heart valves and blood flow through the heart chambers.

Vascular Ultrasound

Vascular Ultrasound is another sound wave based technology that allows the examination of the circulation in the blood vessels. This allows for evaluation of both arterial and venous blood flow.  We can examine blood vessels in the neck (carotid), abdomen (mesenteric), arms, and legs.

Cardiac Stress Testing

Cardiac stress testing allows us to stress the heart and evaluate blood flow. This can be performed as an exercise test on a treadmill or using intravenous medications for people who are unable to exercise at an appropriate level. Pictures of the heart’s response to the stress can then be obtained by either echocardiography or nuclear camera.

Electrocardiograms (EKG)

Electrocardiograms (EKG) provide a record of your heart’s electrical activity. This data is used to help diagnose abnormal heart rhythms and/or damage to heart muscle.