Is There A Test To Determine If........

[Primetime]

Is there a test to determine if blood flow to the heart is below normal. Not a blockage type thing, but just that not enough blood is flowing through the heart. I had a doppler study done on my head about 10 years ago at Vanderbilt. It showed a 40 - 50 % reduction upon tilt.

My echocardiograms on my heart have been normal. Not esophageal echo but just the non invasive kind.

Primetime.

Edited March 10, 2007 by MightyMouse
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[Lukkychrm42]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean- when they do a stress test/echo they can determine the ejection fraction and figure out how much blood the heart is pumping during walking or whatever they have you do- I know my ejection fraction was 61% below normal last year- is that what you are talking abou?

[Primetime]

I just mean -- as I understand it, we with POTS, etc. don't get enough blood flow to our upper body when we stand, especially for long periods. I was wondering if there was a way to check the blood flow in our hearts when we stand?

[Lukkychrm42]

They can do an echo while you stand and see how hard your heart is working and tell the lack of blood flow... but it sounds like your Doppler study might have shown what you're looking for.

[Guest tearose]

I do understand what you are trying to capture...but that kinda thing happens so fast and then our body tries to respond immediately.

I am still thinking...I really don't know what would capture that except a cardiac MRI or a PET scan but it would have to be at the time of poor blood supply...sounds like a needle in a haystack.

I think the after effects of this would be muscle or electrical damage in your heart. Maybe even denervation. The damage afterwards is easier to see. Just my opinion.

tearose

[morgan617]

For what you are looking for, if I understand this correctly, you need a really specialized test done at someplace like Vandy or NIH, or Mayo.

You re looking for how much volume you drop when going upright, correct? An echo will not show this, for one thing, they do them supine. My echoes are always normal with a very high ejection fraction and normal blood flow....but they don't show the overall volume drop experienced by standing up.

I haven't had it done, but most people have special lines in their arteries, and it's done with a tilt type test. I don't know of any "regular" or "basic" tests that actually show that lack of blood flow.....so an echo will show valve problems, or strictures, or structural things that will affect blood flow, but not the the type you seem to want.

There are very good articles by Dr. Streeten and Robertson on studies done for this, but I'm not sure if anyone does these right now. I guess those 2 week stays at Vandy may.

That's really the main problem with this illness, things just don't show up on basic or regular common type tests, so everyone assumes you are really fine, when you are not. I don't if this helped, but good luck in your quest sweetie.....morgan

p.s. lucky charm...was your ejection fraction 61%? Normal is 50 or above, so I was confused by that response....just being nosey, sorry.....

[Lukkychrm42]

NO sorry, my ejection fraction is 61% below NORMAL when I stand. And every few months my cardio does an echo while I stand to see the change in how my heart is working. It looks pretty cool, actually. But no, i don't suppose it shows the blood volume when that happens.

[Primetime]

Thank you very much for your kind replies

Primetime