Story Published:
Sep 11, 2008 at 5:57 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:29 AM CDT
There's a new camera now in use that can save heart patients in more than one way. This country's number one test to detect heart disease just got an upgrade over at the Wheeler Heart and Vascular Center at Cox Hospital.
If your doctor has ever ordered a heart stress test for you and some 15 million are ordered in this country every year, you're probably familiar with a big machine that looks similar to an MRI.
The technology is about 40 years old and is still extremely useful. It takes pictures of your heart at rest and at work. But it requires patients to lie still for about 20 minutes, with their arms above their head. That can be difficult for claustrophobic or arthritic patients.
Now Cox is one of only 15 hospitals that has just acquired this new smaller camera to take even better quality pictures of the heart, within 2-4 minutes.
