Diagnostics
Exercise EKG (ergometry)
In mild heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions the heart can look almost normal on a resting EKG. An exercise EKG can add information about the heart under physical load. The EKG is recorded similarly to a resting EKG while you exercise on a bicycle ergometer or treadmill under controlled conditions.
How is the examination performed?
As with a resting EKG, electrodes are placed on your chest and a blood-pressure cuff is applied. You then pedal on a bicycle ergometer (or walk on a treadmill). The load is increased in steps, about every two minutes. EKG, blood pressure and how you feel are monitored throughout. The test usually lasts about 10 to 15 minutes and is stopped when a set load is reached, you are exhausted, or abnormalities appear. We remain with you the whole time and stop the test if needed.
What can it show?
The exercise EKG shows how your cardiovascular system responds to physical effort:
- Reduced blood flow to the heart muscle that become visible only under load – an important clue to coronary heart disease
- Heart rhythm disorders that occur only during exertion
- the blood-pressure response under load
- your overall physical exercise capacity and performance
How accurate is the examination?
The exercise EKG has been used for decades, is widely available and is very safe. It is well suited to assessing exercise capacity and blood-pressure response. Used alone, it is less reliable for detecting reduced coronary blood flow – not every narrowing is found. If the result is abnormal or unclear, we add more informative tests such as stress echocardiography or cardisiography.
Benefits at a glance
- Information under real exercise – not only at rest.
- No radiation and no contrast medium.
- Assessment of exercise capacity and of the blood-pressure response.
- Useful follow-up in known cardiovascular disease.
