Through our advanced testing facilities, a comprehensive assessment of your cardiovascular status can be performed while an outpatient or as an inpatient. We can assess the heart’s function, size and blood flow with nuclear cardiology procedures. With echocardiography, which uses sound waves, we can evaluate the heart’s function and how well the heart’s valves work. We also provide a complete range of non-invasive tests that can help pinpoint problems concerning the heart. Among these are peripheral vascular tests, stress tests, electrocardiograms, exercise stress tests, and Holter monitoring.
Calcium deposits in the heart’s coronary arteries indicate the presence of coronary plaque, also known as atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease. Plaque can result in narrowing or blockages that can reduce blood flow to the heart and increase the risk for heart attack or stroke. Test results of a coronary calcium CT scan are given as a score indicating the amount of calcium present as evidence of calcium buildup in the coronary artery.
Learn more about Coronary Calcium Scans
If your physician suspects that your chest pain is caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels of the heart, you may undergo cardiac catheterization in one of Bridgeport Hospital's state-of-the-art digital cardiac catheterization laboratories. Using the latest technology, cardiologists inject dye into the arteries to see if and where there is a blockage. Pictures taken during catheterizations help cardiologists plan the best course of treatment. This procedure is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Patients who undergo a cardiac catheterization at Bridgeport Hospital are usually discharged that same day.
Your physician may recommend peripheral vascular testing to examine the blood flow in your arms and legs. The Heart and Vascular Center provides angiography or arteriography to check for blockages or narrow passages in the veins and arteries. These tests use a special dye and x-rays to highlight any blockages. This “road map” of the arteries serves as a guide for further treatment or surgery. If blockages are discovered during testing, specialists such as vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists or invasive cardiologists can perform angioplasty or stent placement at the same time.
With a pediatric cardiologist on staff, Bridgeport Hospital also performs diagnostic procedures for children with known or suspected hear disease in the Neonatal or Pediatric Unit, reducing the family's need to travel to distant treatment centers.
