Cardiac MRI Requested

[MTRJ75]

Had an echo a week ago. Expected it to come back with no issues so I can concentrate on all of my issues stemming from autonomic dysfunction. 

Today, the doctor's assistant calls and says she wants me to get a cardiac MRI. The reason given was that the echo was of poor quality. 

I did have a scare a few years ago (2015) where an echo showed potential pulmonary hypertension, but that was ruled out with an exceptionally painful catherization. I told my cardiologist I never wanted to hear the PH words again. 

Part of me doesn't even want to know the reason for this because it'll just increase my anxiety when I was getting it under control this week. 

I guess my questions are

1) Is echo quality commonly problematic among us?

2) Has anyone else had to do this and there's a chance I'm going to stress the next few weeks over nothing? 

[Flipflap1]

6 hours ago, MTRJ75 said:

Had an echo a week ago. Expected it to come back with no issues so I can concentrate on all of my issues stemming from autonomic dysfunction. 

Today, the doctor's assistant calls and says she wants me to get a cardiac MRI. The reason given was that the echo was of poor quality. 

I did have a scare a few years ago (2015) where an echo showed potential pulmonary hypertension, but that was ruled out with an exceptionally painful catherization. I told my cardiologist I never wanted to hear the PH words again. 

Part of me doesn't even want to know the reason for this because it'll just increase my anxiety when I was getting it under control this week. 

I guess my questions are

1) Is echo quality commonly problematic among us?

2) Has anyone else had to do this and there's a chance I'm going to stress the next few weeks over nothing? 

I've had echos my whole life from the time I was a baby, almost every year, for a heart murmur.... I've never had an issue with quality except when a medical student did it and couldn't find my murmur. They simply had the technition take over and got what they were looking for. The echo is dependent on the technition's ability to find what they're looking for and take clear screen shots, so I could imagine sometimes it's better than others depending on how good the technition is. The only way an MRI gets messed up is of you move, so the quality might be better? Hope everything works out and is okay.

[Sushi]

6 hours ago, MTRJ75 said:

1) Is echo quality commonly problematic among us?

2) Has anyone else had to do this and there's a chance I'm going to stress the next few weeks over nothing? 

I had an echo that showed severe mitral valve regurgitation. My local EP thought I’d need open heart surgery and I didn’t want to do that locally as I’m in a small city, so I went to one of the best valve centers in the country, echo disk in hand. The cardiothoracic surgeon I saw didn’t think the quality of my echo was good enough so he had another one done that would more clearly show what he was interested in. Based on the new echo and his physical exam he recommended a less invasive procedure which is what I ultimately had. So, for me a less than perfect echo led to a much easier procedure. 

Today I had another echo to check that my new valve fix was still tip top. My EP had been called out to emergency surgery so I told the echo tech that I wasn’t leaving until she told me the basics as I wasn’t willing to wait for my rescheduled appointment with my EP.  The tech understood and told me the basics—mitral fix still good, etc. So that’s my “poor echo” story!

[Guest KiminOrlando]

I think in women it can be difficult to see everything because of breast tissue. Not sure if that is an issue here. 

[MTRJ75]

No, that is one issue I certainly don't have @KiminOrlando

Thanks for the responses. I was hoping that there might be some blood flow issues due to the POTS that might have led to some difficulty. This isn't the first time something like this has happened to me. I had an issue with an ultrasound of my neck once that said I had a 70% blockage, but then the MRA said it was fine. 

Also remember having an issue with an unclear echo in the past, but I think she just ordered another echo. My cardiologist has changed groups since my last one, so I think every echo I've ever had (three or four of them now) have done in a different place by a different person. 

[MTRJ75]

As I had previously mentioned, I didn't even want to know anything about this until my cardiologist had all the results, but I received something in the mail from my the office today and opened it thinking it was some kind of billing, but it was actually the MRI script with a diagnoses of Cardiomyopathy. So, instead of consulting Dr Google, I'll ask for those who might have more experience with these type things here...

I guess I have a more specific question now: Can POTS (or any type of autonomic dysfunction) be frequently misdiagnosed or show up as a potential cardiomyopathy on testing, especially if the doctors don't have a lot of experience dealing with these types of things? 

[Scout]

@MTRJ75 Hi there.

I've had a cardiac CT scan, about 4 or 5 years ago it was now. I was very nervous about the procedure, but it was honestly fine and over with very fast. They give you a dye injection which wasn't too bad at all, and then they do the scan, and you're out of there. The CT itself was very quick, and compared to having an angiogram going up through the groin artery, it was easy. 

I'm sure the MRI procedure is a little different, but I just wanted to reassure you. It will be OK! 

As for the issue of cardiomyopathy, I'm really not sure, and that's something to definitely chat to a medical professional about. As far as I'm aware, an enlarged heart can be caused by underlying conditions.

[MTRJ75]

Thank you Scout. I've had plenty of MRIs. It's not the procedure that concerns me, it's the potential results or why it was even ordered in the first place. I'm having great difficulty scheduling it anyway. The only place my insurance will cover is quite a ride, wants me there at 9am and doesn't have an opening until March. Needless to say, none of these conditions work.