• Cardiac MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart can provide very detailed images of the heart muscle and its components. It may detect subtle abnormalities of the heart muscle that other diagnostic testing cannot. It may be the most accurate method of measuring LVEF. The test is done by having the patient lie in a large tube that is somewhat noisy. People prone to claustrophobia may become anxious undergoing the test (anxiety medication may lessen such anxiety). …show more content…
It is commonly performed to view the aorta, to check for aneurysm or dissection (tear) in the aortic wall, and the pulmonary arteries, to detect blood clots in them (“pulmonary embolism”). Like MRI, the patient lies in a large tube (although it is not a encompassing as an MRI tube). Unlike MRI, CT scanning uses X-ray-like radiation, but uses no magnet. It does often require injection of a dye to image blood vessels. The dye may cause allergic reaction (rarely a life-threatening reaction) and may injure the kidneys in people who have some baseline abnormality of kidney function (thus, a blood test is usually performed to assess kidney function before CT imaging with dye is performed). The equipment to perform CT imaging is more widely available that that required for MRI …show more content…
Although LVEF can be measured at catheterization, its usual chief purpose is to study the coronary arteries to determine if blockages in the arteries may be contributing to low LVEF or arrhythmia formation. If blockages are detected, they may treated with balloon angioplasty (often with addition of a stent to prop open the area of blockage). If blockages are not amenable to angioplasty, then coronary bypass surgery may be indicated. Cardiac catheterization does involve placing testing catheters in an artery (and sometimes in a vein) of the groin, the arm or the wrist. Like an EPS, it is performed with local anaesthesia and intravenous medication to achieve a state of conscious sedation. In addition to the potential complications of EPS (see above), cardiac catheterization has additional potential complications. These include bleeding or occlusion of the artery in which catheters are placed and reactions to the dye that is injected to take pictures (see discussion in “Cardiac CT imaging” above). It should be noted that if a person being evaluated for ICD therapy does undergo revascularization (by angioplasty, stent or surgery), present guidelines recommend that the LVEF be measured more than 90 days after the revascularization procedure. This is recommended because the LVEF often improves after