Cardiac Perfusion Scan & Nuclear Cardiology

• Do not eat or drink anything containing caffeine for 12 hours before this test. Also, do not consume these type of food and drinks:
  • Coffee: Any variety, regular or decaffeinated
  • Tea: Any variety, regular or decaffeinated
  • Soft drinks: Any variety, regular or decaffeinated, including cola, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Tab, Mellow Yellow and Pibb Xtra
  • Foods: Cocoa, chocolate
  • These over-the-counter medicines: Anacin, Excedrin, NoDoz
  • These prescribed medications: Cafergot (all forms), Darvon Compound, Fiorinal, Synalog DC, Wigraine (all forms)
• Do not smoke for two hours before this test.
• Do not eat or drink anything except water for two hours before this test. 

Medications Before Cardiac Perfusion

Please bring a complete listing of all your medicines with you. Bring any insulin or oral diabetes medicine to the hospital so you can take the dose recommended by your doctor.

You may need to decrease or stop certain medicines for this test. Follow your doctor’s instructions about medication. You should start all your medicines again after the test is over.

Do not stop your medication unless your doctor tells you to. If you are a diabetic and take insulin or another diabetes medication, please check with your doctor for advice regarding doses before and after this test, and bring those medicines with you.

Dressing for Your Cardiac Perfusion

Please wear comfortable clothes that break at the waist (a shirt or blouse) and flat walking shoes or sneakers. Our team will place electrodes on your chest so that we can monitor your heart while you exercise.

Women must remove their bras for the procedure. If you wear a particularly large or small clothing size, please bring your own T-shirt and pants. Comfortable clothing will make things easier for you as you exercise during your test.

The test takes a total of three to four hours. There are three parts to the test:

1. Taking pictures: For the first part of the test, we will put an intravenous (IV) line in your arm. This will feel like a pin-prick, similar to when you have blood drawn. A member of the testing team will inject the radioactive material through the IV. You will not feel this injection.

We will wait about 45 minutes while the radioactive material circulates in your body. Then, while you are seated in a specialized camera designed for cardiac imaging, we will take pictures of your heart for about 15 minutes.

2. Exercising: For the second part of the test, you will exercise by walking on a treadmill. We will use electrocardiogram (ECG) to monitor your heart. We will take your blood pressure many times during this part of the test. A member of the testing team will inject a radioactive material into the IV about one minute before you stop exercising.

If you are unable to exercise on a treadmill — or are unable to reach your target heart rate on the treadmill — the testing team will use a medicine that affects your heart the same way as exercise. You will not feel it as we inject the radioactive material. We will again wait a short time while the radioactive material circulates in your bloodstream.

3. Taking more pictures: The third part of the test involves taking more pictures. You will sit down as before, and the camera will take pictures for about 15 minutes. 

A doctor from nuclear medicine will provide the results of this test to your doctor. Your doctor will put together the results of this test with your other tests and then explain the meaning of these results to you.

Nuclear medicine procedures are very safe. Your body will eliminate the radioactive materials very quickly.