Diagnostic Services

Getting the right diagnosis is important to getting the right treatment. Denver Health offers a full array of screening and diagnostic services and has the technology and expertise to determine the cause of the problem you are experiencing.

Accurate diagnosis paves the way to developing a treatment plan to manage the problem. Our screening and diagnostic services include the following:

Non-invasive testing

• Echocardiogram: An ultrasound to look at the heart. The technology is very similar to the technology that is used to see a baby before it’s born.
• Exercise Stress Test: The most common diagnostic procedure to evaluate a patient for coronary artery disease. Performed on a treadmill, this test determines the ability of your heart arteries to provide enough blood to the heart muscle while the heart is under an increased workload.
• Medication Stress Testing:  Medication stress testing safely stresses the heart for a short period of time in patients who cannot walk on the treadmill.
• Nuclear Stress Test Imaging: Another diagnostic test to evaluate coronary artery disease.  Used in conjunction either with exercise stress testing or with medication stress testing, this technology provides imaging to clearly define areas of the heart which are not getting enough blood.
• Holter: This test continuously monitors your heart for very fast, very slow or irregular heart rhythms. The patient wears the Holter device, about the size of a deck of cards, during normal activities over a 24-48 hour period. Cardiac experts then review the data to detect any abnormal heart rhythms.
• Event Monitors:  Similar to a Holter monitor, an event monitor evaluates patients for abnormal heart rhythms but only when patients feel symptoms such as heart palpitations or a very fast pulse.

Invasive Testing

• Angiography: an injection of dye into the arteries checks for blood flow and blockages This test is provided in our cardiac cath lab