Coronary Artery Disease Tests & Treatments at University of Colorado Hospital

Tests for Coronary Artery Disease

Cardiac Catheterization

A cardiac catheterization helps your doctor to determine the pressure on the heart and the blood vessels feeding it. The catheterization requires a small tube to be inserted through the artery in the groin and passed through to the heart. An injection of dye allows your doctor to see the pattern of blood flow to and through your heart and determine if there are blockages.

Exercise Stress Test

This test evaluates how well your heart is functioning. During the stress test, you will walk on a treadmill while a machine monitors your:

  • Heart rhythm
  • Blood pressure
  • Other vital signs

Nuclear Stress Test

An exercise stress test that includes an injection of a small amount of a radioactive material into your vein. This material helps illuminate areas that are blocked and may not be receiving a sufficient blood supply. It reaches your heart as you are exercising. Following the exercise test, you will have an X-ray of your heart.

Drug Tests

If you cannot perform an exercise stress test, your doctor may use drugs that dilate (widen) your blood vessels. After the drugs are injected into your vein, you will receive an injection of radioactive material to help show areas of blockage in the arteries.

Echocardiogram

An echocardiogram (ECHO), also known as a cardiac ultrasound, uses sound waves to create pictures of the heart, helping to identify areas of the heart that are contracting irregularly.

Coronary Artery Disease Treatments

If you have coronary artery disease you may be able to manage it with medications prescribed by your doctor.

  • Blood thinners prevent the formation of clots
  • Medicines to break up blood clots
  • ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors, which reduce pressure on the blood vessels by dilating (widening) them
  • Beta blockers limit the effects of the hormone adrenaline and slow down the heart rate. Beta blockers also help blood vessels to dilate (widen), which improves blood flow
  • Blood pressure medicine
  • Medicines to keep blood platelets from forming on a damaged artery
  • Cholesterol-lowering medicines to help reduce the formation of plaque
  • Nitroglycerin improves blood flow, reduces the workload on your heart and relieves pain
  • Hypoglycemic medicines decrease the amount of sugar in your blood

If the disease continues to progress, you will need nonsurgical or surgical treatment, administered by your doctor.

Angioplasty and Stenting

Your doctor may be able to clear your carotid artery with a minimally invasive procedure, using angioplasty and a process called stenting. A very thin, flexible tube called a catheter that carries a small balloon is threaded to your artery. The balloon opens and closes, flattening the plaque against the artery walls. Your doctor then inserts a wire mesh tube called a stent into the artery. The stent keeps the artery open and allows the blood to flow freely.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) may be performed if the arteries bringing blood to your heart (the coronaries) become so thickened and hardened with fatty deposits called plaque that blood flow is blocked. The blockage creates a risk of heart attack and death.

During CABG surgery, graft a healthy blood vessel to the heart and reroute blood around the blockage. Surgical assistants will remove a vein, generally from the leg. The surgeon will open the sternum and attach one end of the vein to aortic artery and the other to the coronary artery below the blockage. The blood flows freely through the graft.