It is a study that helps evaluate the behavior of the heart against a certain exercise load (stress). By increasing the metabolic oxygen needs during exercise, the heart requires more blood to be pumped. Based on this principle, this test allows us to identify if there is a lack in the blood supply of the arteries that supply the heart when subjected to a controlled physical effort.
Doctors use the stress test to diagnose abnormalities in the blood supply to the heart arteries, irregular heartbeat or arrhythmias, or to detect symptoms such as chest pain or difficulty breathing related to exercise.
This test can be performed as a coronary disease detection study, such as check-up in healthy individuals with risk factors or as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program.

Instructions for patients:

1) Light breakfast on the day of the study
2) On the day of the study you can take your medications, except beta-blockers.
3) Go with comfortable clothes and tennis shoes.

An echocardiogram is a non-invasive study that uses high-frequency sound waves to obtain images of the heart in real time. This test can be done in the patient's bed and as part of a complementary evaluation in the office. Doctors use this study to evaluate the following heart parameters:

• Size and shape of the heart, and its cavities.
• Thickness and movement of the walls of the heart.
• Contraction and pumping capacity of the heart.
• Correct functioning of the heart valves.
• Evaluation of tumors, thrombi or infections inside the heart.
• Problems related to the outer covering of the heart (pericardium).
• Abnormalities in the structure of the heart or congenital defects.

The Holter is a portable device that runs on batteries and is used to record the electrical activity of the heart continuously for 24 h, 48 h or 7 days. The Holter study uses a set of electrodes connected to the surface of the chest that allows doctors to know the electrical activity of the heart by continuous recording of an electrocardiogram during daily activities. This study is useful in patients with palpitations, fainting or suspicion of alterations in electrical conduction or heart rhythm (bradycardia and tachycardia).

It is a clinical study based on comparing the blood pressure of the foot with respect to the blood pressure of the arm to determine the possibility of detecting an obstruction of the blood flow in the arteries of the legs. This study is useful for diagnosing peripheral arterial disease, a condition that affects blood flow in the legs. The ABI is part of the physical examination and a vascular Doppler is used to measure it. This study helps doctors identify an obstruction to the flow in the leg arteries in diabetic patients, with ulcers in the legs or chronic kidney failure.

It is a noninvasive image study of the heart that uses drugs with radioactive activity to diagnose coronary artery disease, myocardial diseases and damage induced by chemotherapy. The images are obtained by means of a gamma camera with a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with the objective of evaluating the blood flow of cardiac tissue through the uptake of radiopharmaceuticals. This imaging study is useful to identify alterations in the blood supply to the heart during stress compared to rest (ischemia), fixed defects or infarcts and viable cardiac tissue.

Cardiac CT is an x-ray imaging technique that uses a computer to generate cross-sectional images of the heart in millimeter scale. Doctors use cardiac CT to examine the structure and function of the heart and blood vessels. This study is also useful to evaluate the cardiovascular risk of patients with risk factors, through the measurement of calcium in the atherosclerotic plaque of the arteries of the heart (coronary calcium score). The normal calcium score is "0".

Cardiac magnetic resonance is an imaging technique for the non-invasive study of the heart, which uses a magnetic field, radio waves and a computer to obtain high definition images, has the advantage that it does not use ionizing radiation. This study allows to study in a single exploration the structure and function of the heart, flow analysis, and reinforcement patterns in myocardial tissue with contrast with gadolinium and study of congenital heart diseases or cardiac light-chain deposition diseases.

Cardiac catheterization is a procedure that examines the functioning of the heart with the use of tubes or catheters designed to work inside the cardiovascular system. This procedure is performed in a CathLab and allows to get a pressure records of the cardiac cavities and main blood vessels, identify coronary obstructions and treat them through the use of stents or endoprostheses.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a minimally invasive procedure that consists of unblocking the narrowing coronaries arteries through the use of small balloons and stents to restore blood flow to tissue at risk of infarction.

The benefits of coronary angioplasty are to increase blood flow through the narrowing artery, decrease chest pain (angina), increase in physical capacity limited by symptoms and decrease mortality.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for peripheral arterial disease (PTA) is a minimally invasive procedure that allows narrow arteries to be reopened from inside the blood vessel through the use of dedicated catheters, balloons and stents in millimeter scale, with the aim of restoring blood flow to the affected territory, and includes the treatment of the aorta. and its main branches; carotid, vertebral, subclavian, celiac trunk, mesenteric, iliac, femoral, popliteal, tibial, pedia, and plantar arch.

This area of ​​interventional cardiology uses minimally invasive techniques with catheters, balloons and dedicated devices (plugs) to treat structural heart diseases, including transcatheter repair of congenital defects or acquired ventricular septal defects (post-MI), patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure, patent ductus arteriosus closure, (PDA), left arterial appendage (LAA) closure in patients at risk of cardiac embolism, alcohol septal ablation (ASA) for hypertrophic obstructuve cardiomyopathy, transcatheter mitral valve repair with MitraClip for mitral valve regurgitation, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and catheter assisted therapies for pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

The electrophysiological study is an invasive test that helps doctors understand the nature of cardiac arrhythmias and thus offer a specific treatment. A catheter is inserted into the veins of the inguinal region, which travels to the heart, where it generates small electrical stimuli to the heart and records how it responds to them.

It consists in applying radiofrequency energy that generates a heat injury (through a catheter) to the cardiac structures that abnormally originate the arrhythmias. By damaging the abnormal tissue, it helps to restore the heart's normal rhythm.

This technique consists of generating damage to abnormal cardiac tissues by means of very cold temperatures (beyond -30 degrees Celsius), which is achieved to restore the normal rhythm of the heart.

The electrical mapping of the heart in third. dimension (3D), is used to identify the origin of arrhythmias. An electrically sensitive catheter is used to map and reconstruct the anatomy and electrical activity of the heart

Cardiac pacemakers are small devices that function as smart computers, which are implanted under the patient's skin (usually under the clavicle), and which are connected by wires to the heart. They are able to detect the electrical activity of the slow heart and send an electrical signal to stimulate it and thus prevent it from beating

The cardiac defibrillator is a device similar to the pacemaker, which works like a small computer, capable of detecting when the patient has a fatal arrhythmia (such as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation) and generating a small electric shock so that the heart recovers its normal rhythm.

It is a surgical procedure that is used to remove cholesterol plaque from the carotid artery with the aim of reducing the risk of a cerebrovascular event (stroke). The surgery is performed under general or local anesthesia, through a linear incision in the neck and carotid artery, extraction of cholesterol plaque and surgical repair with and without patch.

Bypass surgery in procedure that allows improving blood flow to the heart by creating a new route or bypass by placing a blood vessel graft that creates a shortcut or "bypass" to prevent the blockage of the arteries of the heart in patients with disease multivessel coronary

Bypass surgery is performed with an incision in the sternum, the heart beat is stopped with a special solution and the blood circulates through an extracorporeal circulation machine to allow the surgeon to place the blood vessel (bypass) grafts in the affected arteries. After placing the coronary bypass grafts, normal electric heart activity is restarted. This technique can be performed minimally invasive through small incisions in the thorax and without stopping the heart in selected cases, or as a hybrid procedure, combining cardiac catheterization techniques and stenting.

Heart valves are structures that function as gates that allow the flow of blood in one direction: veins, heart, arteries, preventing the blood from returning. This surgery is performed with an incision in the sternum to open heart surgery, and with the use of a cardiopulmonary bypass machine, which supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from the blood. After exposing the heart, the surgeon can perform a ring repair (annuloplasty), valve repair (valvuloplasty), or replacement of the affected valve (valvular replacement). Valvuloplasty is a technique used to repair the mitral and tricuspid valve. The aortic valve is usually replaced by a biological or mechanical prosthesis (stainless steel or titanium). Minimally invasive techniques are also used, such as: mini-thoracotomy, mini-sternotomy, robot-assisted surgery and percutaneous transcatheter aortic valve intervention (TAVI).

It is a procedure that uses surgical techniques for the treatment of diseases of the thoracic aorta, abdominal and its branches, as well as vessels of the circulation of the upper or lower extremities. It includes surgical techniques for the primary repair of the affected vessel, replacement of vascular segments with prostheses or grafts of blood vessels, fistulas placement, or arteriovenous (AV) communications and application of hybrid techniques such as endovascular intervention with balloons (PTA) and / or stenting.