Stress Modalities to Evaluate Myocardial Perfusion

Pharmacologic Stress Testing

“…Other important reasons to perform pharmacologic stress testing include conditions such as aortic stenosis, left bundle branch block, a paced rhythm, recent myocardial infarction, and severe arterial hypertension. 3,4 Because of the varying reasons, the decision to perform one stress modality over another is often not made until the patient is interviewed and examined on the day of the stress imaging procedure. The possibility of either stress test needs to be made clear to both the referring clinicians and to the patients so that there is no surprise when an exercise treadmill test is converted to a pharmacologic stress test or vice versa.…”