Test Overview
A cardiac perfusion scan measures the amount of blood in your heart muscle at rest and after it has been stressed. It is often done to find out what may be causing symptoms like angina (such as chest pain or pressure). It may be done after a heart attack to see if areas of the heart are not getting enough blood or to find out how much heart muscle has been damaged from the heart attack.
During the scan, a camera takes pictures of the heart after a special test medicine (radioactive tracer) is given through an I.V. The tracer travels through the blood and into the heart muscle. As the tracer moves through the heart muscle, areas that have good blood flow absorb the tracer. Areas that do not absorb tracer may not be getting enough blood or may have been damaged by a heart attack.
A set of pictures will be made when you are at rest and after your heart has been stressed, either by exercise or after you have been given a medicine. The resting pictures are then compared with the stress images.
This test is also known by other names including myocardial perfusion scan, myocardial perfusion imaging, thallium scan, sestamibi cardiac scan, and nuclear stress test.
