Cardiac Diagnostic Services

Cardiology services

Calcium Scoring

Do you know your Calcium Score? This simple test gives you a fast, affordable way to see your risk of heart disease. Coronary calcium scoring is a procedure involving the use of our 128-slice CT in order to determine the level of calcium in the coronary artery of your heart. This simple, non-invasive and painless procedure can detect the presence of coronary artery disease long before it becomes symptomatic, allowing you to take preventative measures to reduce the risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death.

Heart & Vascular Center at Titus offers calcium scoring screening tests for only $75. Talk to your primary care provider or you may contact our office directly to learn more and schedule your procedure at 903-577-4115.

Age. Aging increases your risk of damaged and narrowed arteries and weakened or thickened heart muscle.

Sex. Men are generally at greater risk of heart disease. However, women's risk increases after menopause.

Family history. A family history of heart disease increases your risk of coronary artery disease, especially if a parent developed it at an early age (before age 55 for a male relative, such as your brother or father, and 65 for a female relative, such as your mother or sister).

Smoking. Nicotine constricts your blood vessels, and carbon monoxide can damage their inner lining, making them more susceptible to atherosclerosis. Heart attacks are more common in smokers than in nonsmokers.

Poor diet. A diet that's high in fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol can contribute to the development of heart disease.

High blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can result in hardening and thickening of your arteries, narrowing the vessels through which blood flows.

High blood cholesterol levels. High levels of cholesterol in your blood can increase the risk of formation of plaques and atherosclerosis.

Diabetes. Diabetes increases your risk of heart disease. Both conditions share similar risk factors, such as obesity and high blood pressure.

Obesity. Excess weight typically worsens other risk factors.

Physical inactivity. Lack of exercise also is associated with many forms of heart disease and some of its other risk factors, as well.

Stress. Unrelieved stress may damage your arteries and worsen other risk factors for heart disease.

Heart Education and Risk Testing (H.E.A.R.T.)

The CV screening is a series of 7 screenings done in one visit, for $175. These screenings are proven to most accurately detect heart disease and defects and gives an objective perspective of future risk of heart disease and how to prevent it.

Results reviewed on site with APN/Cardiologist
Screening held at Imaging Plus once monthly for 4 hours

7 Screenings Included...

Carotid ultrasound is a safe, noninvasive, painless procedure that uses sound waves to examine the blood flow through the carotid arteries. It also evaluates the thickness of the carotid artery wall and checks for clots. A carotid ultrasound tests for blocked or narrowed carotid arteries, which can increase the risk of stroke. The results of the test can help your health care provider determine a treatment to lower your stroke risk.

Advantages of the HEART Test

Immediate results
Review of normal/abnormal with Physician at the time of screening
Screening includes a CT scan for calcium scoring, other similar screenings do not.
Lower cost
Results recorded in EHR for easy access via MyChart

Stress Testing

Your physician may order a cardiac stress test during which exercise or a chemical substance is used to "stress" the heart and expose hidden heart disease or to help rule it out. A stress test is very useful in revealing patients with coronary artery blockage who may have minimal symptoms or an unremarkable EKG at rest.

Our state-of-the-art equipment is combined with the expertise of our physicians and personnel to provide you with the best possible diagnostic experience. With over 8,000 stress testing procedures performed at Titus Regional Medical Center, we are well prepared to handle your stress testing evaluations.

The heart may be stressed by having you exercise on a treadmill. If you are unable to exercise secondary to physical limitations such as arthritis, generalized weakness, paralysis or unsteady gait, a chemical or pharmacologic stress test may be performed.

In a chemical stress test, a medicine is given intravenously to perform a comparable degree of cardiac stress. Sometimes a combination method is used, combining the treadmill with medication.

During the test, you will be connected to an EKG, in which sticky electrodes are attached to the shoulders and hips and a connection to the EKG portion of the stress test equipment. The EKG produces a record on paper the action of the heart. Exercise may provoke arrhythmias or an irregular rhythm which may not be seen at rest and may or may not point to heart disease

Nuclear Cardiology

Nuclear medicine is a specialty of medical imaging that uses radionuclides and relies on a very scientific process known as radioactive decay in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements or drugs to form chemical compounds. Once these are administered to the patient, we can localize specific organs or cellular receptors.

The benefit of nuclear medicine is the ability to image the extent of a disease in the body, based on the cellular function and physiology, rather than relying on physical changes in the tissue anatomy. In some diseases, nuclear medicine studies can identify medical problems at an earlier stage than other diagnostic tests.