Ejection Factor

[irontom]

Hi, Thank you for taking my question. I have been experiencing chest pain on and off for at least 10 years. I am 45 y.o. male with no famil;y history of heart problem. Bp has been normal, everything normal until recently. Chest pain used to always go away for months at a time, would be annoying but would go away had it check out by cardiologist stress test was normal. Then in november chest pain came one day and didnt go away. Went to ER kept me overnight said everything looked normal, follow up with cardio. Had stress test was normal but cadio wanted to do scan of heart, one hour after stress test after taking shower, i got sweaty took my pulse was about 140, my wife said i looked very pale. Went to ER again kept overnight, cardio wanted to send me to another hospital to do catherization, I didn't want to really do it, She convinced me to have it done. So i had it done, everything normal. Ejection Fraction was 50%. Is this low? Echo test shows EFcub 72.54%, EF Teich 63.47%. My holter prior was told normal but when i got copy showed 2022 ventricular ectopies including pvc. Occasional atrial ectopics and 167 supraventricular. On no meds at this time. I prefer not to. Still feel occasional pain also fatigue. Should I be concerned? Thank you  

[Forum-M.D.-bkj]

irontom,

thanks for the post.

I think you may have chest pain which is non-cardiac in origin.  You really do not seem to have any major risk for microvascular disease and if you cath was normal, spasm would also be unlikely. I would try to go back to see if it would be poosible to look into other causes.

The SVT you experice I would like to know more about if I was your physician. Is it associated with symptoms, what is the rhtyhm (afib, etc).

You should discuss your concerns with your physician.

hope this is a start.

[EchoTech]

55% is typically considered a normal ejection fraction.

good night and good luck.

[anacyde]

50-70% is a normal ejection fraction.  Mine has varied from 49% to 65% and my cardiologist has never been disappointed with those numbers.

[EchoTech]

50% is not considered normal, at least where I work.  That would be called borderline low normal.  I would say 55% to 70% is the normal range.

[irontom]

Thanks for info,  my echo test said EFcub. 72 EF teich 65.  Are these ejection fraction numbers, what do they mean. My catherization results said ejection fraction 50%, is that a more exact test for ejection.  Thanks again

[EchoTech]

They are just different formulas for calculating  the ejection fraction.  In the medical field, you really just don't take the results of one test, you combine the results of several different tests ( since no test is correct 100% of the time).  It would seem that you are doing OK.  As long as you can do what you want and not be limited by shortness of breath or running out of gas too quickly, you're doing fine.

Good night and good luck to you.