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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
False Positive
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
False Positive
by Shawn Callow, Oct 02, 1999 12:00AM
I recently had a stress test and the result showed positive in a quick amount of time, when my heart was beating around 100-120 bpm. The doctor then recommended a cardiolyte test and I had it five days later. Again the EKG showed positive when my heart was beating around 100-120 bpm. They injected a dye into my heart when the rate was around 160 bpm. After an hour, they took 32 pictures of my heart. A few days later, I called the doctor to find my results and was told there was no blockages in my heart. I asked why I was positive during the stress test and was told that some people show "false positives". What I'm concerned about is how quickly the EKG shows positive, and if something else could be contributing to the results?
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD - DLB, Oct 02, 1999 12:00AM
The pictures are much more sensitive and specific than the exercise part. If the pictures show no blockages, the exercise ECG part was wrong, a false positive. This is not an uncommon situation, nor does it mean that there was another abnormality responsible for the ECG portion. Sometimes high blood pressure can make the ECG portion more likely to provide incorrect answers.
