26th November 2009
New service for cardiac patients at Broomfield Hospital
Cardiac patients in Mid Essex are now able to have a special scan at Broomfield Hospital to understand how well the heart muscle is being supplied with blood both during exercise and at rest.
The myocardial perfusion scan involves injecting the patient with a special radioactive tracer and is being carried out in a clinic run by the cardiac nurse practitioners working in partnership with colleagues in nuclear medicine at Broomfield Hospital.
Angela Richardson, cardiac nurse practitioner, said:” Before we started doing these scans at Broomfield patients had to travel to the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.”
The first part of the test involves putting a small injection line into the arm, through which a drug is given to increase the work the heart has to do. The patient is then connected up to an ECG machine and then helped onto an exercise bike. The patient is encouraged to do some light exercise on a special exercise bike. Halfway through the test the radioactive tracer is injected which will allow specialists to see pictures of the heart when they have their scan. The actual exercise takes no longer than six minutes.
Fiona Robinson, cardiac nurse practitioner, adds:” We do prepare the patient beforehand, as whilst the patient undertakes the exercise they can feel some of the side effects from the drug given – the most common being some shortness of breath, feeling hot and flushed and occasionally getting chest discomfort. These normally pass within seconds of stopping the drug infusion. The heart rate and blood pressure are monitored continuously throughout the test.”
Following the exercise the patient then undergoes the perfusion scan. A gamma camera is used to scan the patient to show the heart muscle from a range of different angles and cross sections.
Michael French, a radiographer specialising in nuclear medicine at Broomfield Hospital, said:” The perfusion scan takes about 15 minutes as the machine takes pictures of the heart from a variety of different angles and cross sections. I then check to see the scans have come out properly and computer process them to gain maximum information before sending onto the reporting cardiologist and radiologist.”
Raymond Knight, a 64 year old cardiac patient from Chelmsford, recently underwent a myocardial perfusion scan at Broomfield Hospital. Mr. Knight said:” This is an added bonus for me to be able to come here for this scan and not have to travel to London. I found the exercise part of the procedure a little uncomfortable as I am not used to doing exercise because of my condition, but I know it is well worth it as I will be able to find out if there are any problems with my heart muscle.”
Following this scan, which shows the heart when it is stressed due to the exercise, the patient comes back to the hospital a few days later to have another scan when the heart is at rest. The cardiologist can then compare the resting images with the stressed images to aid the diagnosis and treatment.
ENDS
Media contact : Jo Triggs tel: (01245) 514235 | Mobile : 0790 005 4948
Powered by EasySite™