ECG, TMT, blood tests for BP, diabetes, cholesterol: Check your heart health with these tests

How to keep heart healthy: High cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure and obesity are red flags that should prompt you to consult a physician (Image: Canva)

Do you really know how your heart is doing? It's not just about feelings and emotions, it's also about science and medicine. Your heart is the most important organ in your body, because it pumps blood to every part of you. Blood carries oxygen, fuel, hormones, other compounds, essential cells, and helps in taking away toxins in its flow. That's a lot of work for one organ! That's why you need to take care of your heart and check its health regularly.

Here are six tests that can help you do that.

The tests will differ if you are a heart patient or asymptomatic. You should worry for your heart even if you are asymptomatic because your family history, high stress job and terrible lifestyle choices could have a serious bearing on its health. High cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure and obesity are red flags that should prompt you to consult a physician. Says Dr Sai Kiran Chaudhuri, M.D. (Chest Disease & TB), T.D.D., “Tightness in the chest, or breathlessness while walking or climbing stairs are signs you should never ignore. Get a health check-up done with focus on heart health. Deficiencies should be ruled out with relevant blood tests as they can also affect heart. A deficiency of vitamin B 12, for example, can lead to enlargement of heart. Sudden bingeing on alcohol can also affect the functioning of heart.”

Dr Harsh Mahajan, MD, Founder & Chairman, Mahajan Imaging & Labs adds pollution as a factor that can put your heart health at risk. “People living in the cities are at a higher risk of having heart problems than those living in the hills. But wherever you live, always consult a doctor and follow professional advice when it comes to tests. Usually, one can figure out condition of heart by doing a few tests. To screen the heart, start with checking the blood pressure. It is not a lab test but I feel it is the most important indicator of heart health. This should be followed by blood tests, TMT. These tests help in ruling out risk factors such as cholesterol, diabetes. Add Echo Cardiography, Stress Echo/Stress MPI, CT Coronary (if you are above 45 years of age) Angiography to this list.”

To keep your heart beating healthily, you must get these tests done periodically to take pre-emptive steps in case of any issues.

1. Blood tests to gauge the presence of risk elements such as cholesterol, diabetes or vitamin deficiencies. Check you haemoglobin level as well. It also helps in determining the functioning of kidneys, liver which in turn can help in figuring out the functioning of heart. Dr Mahajan stresses on the importance of checking blood pressure regularly. "Blood test report and blood pressure can be the first indicator of trouble with heart," he says.\

2. Increasing heart rate should always be an indicator of impending trouble. Get a  TMT (the treadmill test) or exercise stress test done. It determines how far your heart can run before experiencing irregular heart rhythms or decreased blood supply to the heart muscle. Doctors use it to monitor your heart's response to being pushed to a specific amount.

3. Go for electrocardiogram, or ECG for short. It records the electrical signal from the heart to check for different heart conditions. Electrodes are placed on the chest to record the heart's electrical signals, which cause the heart to beat. The signals are shown as waves on an attached computer monitor or printer. “It helps in determining rate and rhythm of heart beat,” explains Dr Chaudhuri.

4. To determine any heart disease, movement of blood flow through the heart and heart valves is crucial. An echocardiogram is a common test that uses sound waves to create pictures of the heart to show the flow.

5. A comparison of how heart beats before and after exercise can be done by a Stress/Rest Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI) Study. It is a type of stress test that uses PET or SPECT imaging of a patient’s heart before and after exercise to determine the effect of physical stress on the flow of blood through the coronary arteries and the heart muscle.

6. To check circulation, blockage in vessels, there is a Computerised Tomography (CT) coronary angiogram, an imaging test that looks at the arteries that supply blood to the heart. A CT coronary angiogram uses a powerful X-ray machine to produce images of the heart and its blood vessels. The test is used to diagnose a variety of heart conditions. It is a non-invasive test for people who may be experiencing unusual cardiac symptoms.