Does stress echocardiography hurt?
Consultant cardiologist Dr. Ahmed Elgahamaz reveals if a stress echocardiography hurts.
A stress echo is a test where the majority of patients simply go on a treadmill machine. It is very similar to what they do in the gym.
It’s a not running test. It’s walking on the treadmill at different paces so that we get the heart rate to reach a certain level of stress, which we then assess if there is a problem to the heart under stress.
The tests usually last about 15 to 20 minutes. However, you will probably be in the department for about 45 minutes from the beginning to the end…
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For patients who can’t exercise, we often use pharmacological stress. We give a drug to stress the heart but this is for a minority of patients who are not able to walk on the treadmill. For example, if they have a knee problem or back pain and etc. The test is completely harmless. It’s very safe and gives us a lot of information. We can bring up signs of heart disease, which are not apparent when we examine the heart under resting conditions.
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About the cardiologists
The Many Beats team consists of not one, but four highly experienced consultant cardiologists
Dr Navtej Chahal
Consultant Cardiologist
PhD FESC FACC
Navtej is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at the London Northwest NHS Trust and the Royal Brompton Hospital, London having qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in 2001. He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London…
Dr Navin Chandra
Consultant Cardiologist
MD, MRCP, MBBS, BSc
Navin is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He is also a Consultant Cardiologist at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from Guy’s, King’s & St. Thomas’s in 2004...
Dr Ahmed Elghamaz
Consultant Cardiologist
FRCP, MB BCh
Ahmed is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at Northwick Park Hospital and London North West Healthcare University Hospitals NHS Trust and is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He completed his junior…
Dr Joban Sehmi
Consultant Cardiologist
BSc, MBBS, MRCP, PhD
Joban is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. His NHS practice is at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS trust. He sees patients privately at Spire in Bushey and Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood. He trained in medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ medical school and qualified in 2003 with numerous academic awards…
