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Detroit, Michigan
A 24-year-old male asked:

What is the sensitivity of ekgs, echocardiograms, and cardiac mris for detecting previous heart attacks? would a normal echocardiogram signal good prognosis in the event of a previous heart attack?

4 doctor answers9 doctors weighed in
Dr. Donald Collins
Dr. Donald Collinsanswered
Family Medicine 43 years experience
Yes: A normal Echo usually means the valves and pumping action of your heart is normal. However you would need a stress test and nuclear scan of your heart to see if the circulation in your heart is normal, and to see if you have any evidence of a heart attack. Good luck!
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
Dr. Stuart Hickerson
Family Medicine 34 years experience
Depends: Depends on if you have had a full or partial thickness MI. A heart attack which damages the full thickness of the heart muscle is reliably seen on an ekg. An echo will show wall motion abnormalities with either type.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasan
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 20 years experience
Very good: Cardiac MRI is the best test for detecting a previous heart attack. An echocardiogram is probably next, followed closely by ECG. All of these tests should be pretty good at picking up a MAJOR previous heart attack. A normal echocardiogram after a heart attack is indeed an excellent prognostic marker.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
Dr. Sameer Azhak
Cardiology 21 years experience
Exercise tolerance is also an excellent indicator of good prognosis
Dec 16, 2015
Dr. Volkan Tuzcu
Pediatric Cardiology 33 years experience
MI: in general a poor function on echo is a worse prognosis sign then a normal function on echo
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
Last updated Nov 28, 2017

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