During my annual Cardiac check-up with my Cardiologist on Monday, the Nurse performed an Ultrasound Scan (Sonogram) of my Heart. An Ultrasound is a non-invasive procedure that uses sound waves that bounce off solid objects to create two-dimensional black-and-white images on a screen.
This procedure helps a Cardiologist diagnose heart conditions. This common test can show blood flow through the Heart and heart valves. The Cardiologist can use the results to identify heart disease and other heart conditions including Ejection Fraction (EF).
When someone suffers from a Heart Attack, depending upon time and treatment the heart can suffer from some damage, and an Ultrasound can identify any damage to the heart muscle and measure the Ejection Fraction.
In my case I have been lucky, both heart attacks were attended to very quickly with emergency surgery to install stents to my blocked arteries and free up blood flow back to the heart muscle.
In this recent, my Ejection Fraction was measured at 64% but the scan did discover Grade 1 diastolic dysfunction with normal filling pressure.
This was the first time I had really taken any notice of the Ejection Fraction and was interested to learn more about the percentage levels in heart patients and healthy adults of my age (62).
So my question to my Cardiologist was "What is a normal Ejection Fraction" and he pointed me to the table adopted by Heart Health professionals and what is considered to be normal see table below;
Regards to Grade 1 Diastolic dysfunction is referred to as "Impaired Relaxation". For patients with this grade of dysfunction, the diastolic filling of the ventricles is a bit slower than it should be but other calculations are normal.
Healthcare providers use a grading system to determine how severe diastolic dysfunction is: Grade I is slightly impaired diastole. Apparently, it is a common finding in people over 60.
Grade II is elevated pressure in the left side of the heart. Grade III is significantly elevated pressure in the left side of your heart.
Whilst this procedure was carried out I was also wired up so that the healthcare provider could monitor my ECG (Electrocardiogram), thankfully this was normal. An ECG is again a simple non-invasive test that records the electrical activity of the heart and can help diagnose certain heart conditions including abnormal heart rhythm and coronary heart disease (Heart attack and Angina).
So generally my annual health check went well.
