Stress Test Results - Pssibility of Ischemia or Not

[jmcruz]

Dear Dr.
I’m a 40 y Caucasian male and did yesterday a Stress Test, whose detailed report I putted in Web Site: http://pwp.netcabo.pt/josemcruz/stest.zip . Since the comments are in Portuguese I made the following translation:
“Max.test done according Bruce Protocol,stopped at Stage 5 by tiredness(13min.). Normal chronotropic evolution during the exercise.Although slow gone down in recovery.Normal tension evolution.Without arrhythmias. Infra ST with beginning in the end of Stage IV, not consistent and namely at ascendant ramp; normal at 1 minute of recovery. No angor (no pain).
Conclusion:Very good stress tolerance. Mistake test for ischemia diagnose by EKC.”
While the Cardio that supervised the test had some doubts about the ST waves, my Cardio, that saw me 1 hour later,analyzed the test and compared it with the other that I did 3y ago, said that it hadn’t any significance. My BP, sited at his office was then 130/80. He only advised me for get more exercise since my recovery was slow.
My questions are:
1-I would be very grateful if you see my exam (Web-Zip file) and tell me your opinion (any significative problem, namelly ischemia or other situations?)
2-Was the test results achieved good for aerobic sports, for free diving or for scuba diving ?
3-Was the slow recovery pathological?
4-My dad died at 73y with a sudden and massive heart attack.With that age,is it a risk factor for me?
Thanks a lot

[Cleveland Clinic]

jmcruz,

thanks for the post.

1-I would be very grateful if you see my exam (Web-Zip file) and tell me your opinion (any significative problem, namelly ischemia or other situations?)

Im not certified to read stress exams. Im not sure from your interpretation, but it sounds negative.  If there is any ambiguity in the EKG portion of a stress test a nuclear stress test can be performed.

2-Was the test results achieved good for aerobic sports, for free diving or for scuba diving ?

Only the physician actually taking care of you can make recommendations for activity. 13 minutes is a good amount of time for a stress test.

3-Was the slow recovery pathological?

There are a lot of parts of the stress test. One of which is measuring the heart rate recovery in rest. If the rest of the test is normal, I wouldnt think too much of this

4-My dad died at 73y with a sudden and massive heart attack.With that age,is it a risk factor for me?

Generally, we regard heart disease in the 40s in males and 50s for females as a significant family history.

good luck

[axg]

3 years ago I started having dizzy spells when I ran. I started with a resting ecg at my GP and it showed a depressed T-wave. This the ecg machine always spits out as indicative of ischaemia. That led to a stress test at the cardio. which they found normal, but they did not go long enough to the point where I have problems. The stress test with a nuclear medicine gave a false positive for a blockage which led to a cath. which showed I had no blockages. I still have the depressed T-wave and no one says anything about it anymore, ignoring the indication given by the ecg machine

[jmcruz]

Thanks Dr. and friends. I will assume complety good the interpretation of my Cardio of "there is no problems" and do any activity. I thinks that's the best way. A nuclear test for now, NO, I think (I would only consider it if tha probabilities of positive were larger).