Heart Screening
Heart Screening Test
If you have a history of heart disease in your family, or you are suffering from symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath or palpitations, then going to a London heart clinic for a few simple tests could help save your life. At The Keyhole Heart Clinic, we provide world-class screening for heart disease with cardiovascular screening options. We provide our patients with a three-step heart health screening to ensure that we can understand your current heart health and advise on any treatment accurately. This includes:
Three Step Heart Screening Tests:
- Blood Test
- ECG
- Echocardiogram
Performing these three tests allows us to visualise your current condition and find any irregularities in the performance of your heart. We need to undertake a blood test, ECG and Echocardiogram to provide an overall update on your current heart health. An ECG will only take a few minutes to perform, with electrodes attached to the chest and providing a recording for our analysis. This electrical recording of the heart’s activity will help us discover if you have any underlying heart muscle abnormalities. An Echocardiogram will also provide vital data on the heart muscle and valve functions. When screening for heart disease this is an important test that is performed using ultrasound to create an image of your heart by bouncing sound waves off your heart which is non-invasive and will cause no pain to perform. A blood test will be carried out to be able to check for general disorders such as anaemia or inflammation and determine your general health.
We also have other tests available for you to undergo further cardiovascular screening, including:
- CT Calcium Score
- CT Coronary Angiography,
- MRI
- Invasive Coronary Angiography
A CT Calcium Score is provided through x-ray equipment that will produce pictures of the coronary arteries to determine whether or not they are blocked or even narrowed, making it ideal to check for coronary artery disease (CAD). It will provide a score that we can use to assess your condition. A CT Coronary Angiogram can provide detailed images of your heart and coronary arteries, making it useful for assessing any existing health problems, meaning our cardiologists can then plan the best treatment needed to help you. A cardiac MRI helps us to determine the blood supply to your heart and will identify if a patient has reduced blood flow to the heart muscle that may cause chest pain. It will also show any congenital heart disease that developed before being born and if there is any existing damage to the heart muscle from a recent heart attack. Invasive Coronary Angiography is where under local anaesthetic you’ll be attached to an ECG and a small catheter is inserted through a blood vessel in your wrist or groin and into your heart. Dye will be injected into your heart so that x-ray images can be taken to measure both the performance of the heart muscle as well as showing up any narrowed heart arteries which are a critical sign of coronary heart disease.
Heart Check-Up & Screening
The process of screening for heart disease ensures that any early signs of problems with a patient’s heart can be discovered and measured. Through cardiac screening tests, our team can identify any issues and provide expert advice on what the best next steps for treatment should be. Having a cardiac screening test carried out is a personal choice and we understand it can be a worrying time in the build-up to have any tests, especially if underlying issues with heart health run in the family or if you have had a history of heart problems. Here at The Keyhole Heart Clinic, we can help reassure during this time and provide a comfortable environment in our clinics. We are fortunate to have a team of some of the leading heart surgeons and cardiologists in the world, with many years of expertise in heart surgery and professional, clinical advice.
Choosing to undergo heart health screening tests can help to detect a problem early, even before you have any symptoms. This means that if discovered early on, the right treatment can be found more quickly and effectively and help our patients make a more informed choice about their health whilst having time to think it through. The sooner any abnormalities are discovered, the quicker it can be to address and treat the condition. We have helped many patients go through successful heart check-ups and then went onto providing them with treatment here at The Keyhole Heart Clinic. You can read through our patient testimonials here.
We Care About Your Heart Health
With over 15 years of experience throughout our world-class team, at The Keyhole Heart Clinic, we are in a unique position to provide professional advice, screening, and treatments. Our reputation for providing a first-class service and facilities ensure choosing to have your heart health screening through us will be the right one for your long-term health. As well as heart screening, we provide a range of cardiac care services that provide our patients with everything they need, from the initial consultation all the way through to undergoing keyhole heart surgery and aftercare. We have detailed information about many different cardiac conditions also so that you can be as informed as possible, from Aortic Stenosis to Mitral Valve Regurgitation.
Of course, we are always available if you need to discuss any queries or concerns you have about heart health or screening for heart disease. Please contact us and we’ll be happy to advise you further, as well as book an appointment. We also have many helpful videos that discuss our services and the different conditions around heart health. We look forward to helping you with a heart check-up and helping you understand more about your overall heart health.