P.S The above post assumes you have not yet had a heart cath.
If however you HAVE had a cath.. particularly if you had a cath and subsequently have found yourself exhibiting ‘scarier’ arrhythmic episodes (ie Ventricular Tachycardia)... your odds of getting such a study go up exponentially.
This is the primary focus of the ‘academic’ usage of the test. Gaining a better understanding of how exactly heart muscle death can lead to future sudden death due to heart rhythms is a poppin research subject in Cardiology right now.
Good job all!
Yes.. completely different tests. There are some types of tests that can be done in an EP study which MAY yield very INDIRECT information about a heart attack or chronic coronary disease. Unfortunately the diagnostic benefits of such tests are not exactly endorsed by the big wigs (FDA, AHA, Hospital Admins) as an ‘official’ screening option.
Additionally the economic cost of an EP study is significantly higher than that of a Cardiac Cath, thus neither insurance companies nor the financial interests that would have to shell out the millions per hospital upfront for supply are particularly in any rush to push for adding such a protocol to the standard protocol.
Such tests within an EP study are therefore performed very infrequently and are often reserved for academic interests (Medical Studies/Trials).
That all said, depending what sort of system/procedure you are having it may be possible to do such a study with the equipment that’s already being placed inside your heart (ie no extra cost for supplies). Agreeing to it however would likely soak up an extra 30 mins- 1 hour of the teams time (ie facility labor costs) and given the theoretical/speculative/unofficial nature of the results it would be time that the team would be volunteering for free.
Not to mention if they actually found something interesting they would have to talk to the coronary doctors to do a work up.. and potentially have to explain their justifications for acting as they did in the process.
In short, you’re welcome to ask... but it’s a long shot and wouldn’t change the need to be cathed in order to obtain a formal diagnosis and treatment.
These are 2 totally different tests. The test where they check for blockages uses dye and an x ray machine to look for blockages. This test is only looking at the electrical aspect of your heart.