False Positive EKG

Hello,

My mom who is 65 had 3 stents placed to open her arteries, one of them being the coronary and two other small ones, in April of `09. The operation was very successful. In August, she went for an EKG/stress test. She went to see the Cardiologist(a Harvard grad) for results of the stress test and the results were "false positive". One Dr. read the report and said blood flow is increasing and the other Dr. said nothing has changed.  How is that possible when all blockages were opened and my mom is very active? Before my mom went for the stress test that morning, she exercised on the exercise bike...could that have altered the results? Could it be that the test was wrong? Will they have to go back and fix the stents or will she have to have open heart surgery if the blodd flow doesn`t show that its increasing? Her heart beats are alwyas perfect between 65 and 75. I just don`t understand how the surgery was a success and all blockages were opened, but there was no change in the EKG? The Dr. wants to wait a couple months and do the test again...but I don`t think I can wait a couple months, I am very worried.Your response would be great for some peace of mind. Thank you for your help.

Best Regards,
Valerie

[kenkeith]

The probability of restenosis is slight but it can't be ruled out.  Sometimes, the stent collapses (once expanded, stents are quite strong and don't tend to collapse readily) but it does happen, wrong size, possibly a clot...does your mother have chest pains?  An EKG is not a very helpful helpful test for ischemia!  It is possbile to have no EKG change (I believe it is the ST interval) and not be of any medical significance.  All EKG readings must be supported by other clinical evidence.

The stress test does not rely on an EKG reading for ischemia, it is more reliable for electrical impulse monitoring (heart rhythm).  There is more reliability on the perfusion of the injected chemical substance, and is visually viewed as it flows through the vessels.

If there are no symptoms, and your mother feels fine, there is in all probability no stent implant restenosis.

[sweetprincess]

There is no chest pain at all all, in fact, my mom feels great even better than before and less fatigued. We walk an hour daily and I can`t keep up with her sometimes...that`s why I just don`t understand how the test can be the same. Thank you very much for your reply KenKeith. You gave me some peace of mind until we see the cardiologist in a couple days. Hopefully, there will be good news. I`ll keep you posted!

[ed34]

It is also important to note that having coronary arteries opened is not always an 'immediate' benefit. If the heart muscles cells have been deficient in oxygen for a long
period of time, they can take time to recover and become normal. Simply pushing more
blood into these cells doesn't make them instantly jump up and shout with joy "hooray, we can now get to work". These cells have repairs to make to their structures. In these
cases, improvements occur gradually, sometimes over months. Your mother is doing the
right thing by walking daily, this is the perfect exercise to gradually increase heart rate.
It is also important to walk slowly on the last 10 minutes of the journey to allow the heart
to gradually slow down and toxins be removed from muscles.