Is a thallium or stress test necessary now?

In hospital 10 days in June for colon surgery.  Heart monitored every day.  Now blood tests are all good, except my
high blood sugar.  BP is 144/77, heart rate 66 and low cholestral.  Had thallium stress test and a CTA in February,
2007.  When all indicates fine, should I have another stress test since it has been a year or do you think this would be necessary?  Thank you.  NAY

[erijon]

I mentioned some mild chest pain to my doctor during my annual check up in Feb 2005 and that got me three straight years of Thallium stress tests, echos and blood work, always normal. This last time when I went in to go over the results with the cardiologist, she told me everything was again normal and she did not feel I needed regular visits and testing by a cardiologist going forward. The only reason for the second set of tests was because I switched cardiologists and they wanted their own basline and the last one was because I was turning 50. I asked how often to repeat these tests and was told to let my family doctor manage my care and let him know if I have any changes in symptoms or anything new starts, other than that the tests did not need to be repeated on a regular basis. The only test she reccommeded repeating in 3 -5 years was the echo. It depends on your risk factors and if you experience any change in your symptoms. One thing you want to be careful about is that the more times you repeat a test, the higher the likelyhood that you will experience a false positive which will lead to more invasive and risky testing so it is good to keep your doctor informed on how you're feeling and let them decide how often to repeat. Make sure to always report any changes in symptoms or the start of any new symptoms. Also, your blood pressure is high and that can cause some structural and valvular issues in the heart so your doctor may want to see an echo occassonaly to see if anything is changing.

Good Luck,

Jon