Cardiac Perfusion Scan/Nuclear Stress Test

A cardiac perfusion scan measures the amount of blood in your heart muscle at rest and after your heart has been made to work hard. Medicine or exercise can be used to increase the amount of blood that your heart needs.

During the scan, a camera takes pictures of your heart after a radioactive tracer is put into a vein in your arm. The tracer travels through the blood and into your heart. As the tracer moves through your heart, areas that have good blood flow absorb the tracer. Areas that don’t absorb the tracer may not be getting enough blood or may have been damaged by a heart attack. The pictures show the difference.

Two sets of pictures may be made during the test. One set is taken while you are resting. Another set is taken after your heart has been made to work harder (called a stress test).

The test is often done to find out what may be causing chest pain or pressure. It may be done after a heart attack to see if areas of the heart aren’t getting enough blood. It also may be used to find out how much your heart has been damaged from the heart attack.