Minnesota Heart Diease Disability Diagnosis

Heart disease Disability Diagnosis

Social Security Lawyers Minnesota

Heart disease disability diagnosis and documentation is very important in providing the Social Security Administration with sufficient evidence of your disability to support your case for benefits.

There are many diagnostic tests available that can reveal if you have heart disease. These tests can also show if your heart disease is getting worse.

There are a variety of tests that can help diagnose heart disease:

Cardiac Catherization is a medical procedure used to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions. A long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter is put into a blood vessel in your arm, groin (upper thigh), or neck and threaded to your heart. Through the catheter, doctors can perform diagnostic tests and treatments on your heart.

Sometimes a special dye is put into the catheter to make the insides of your heart and blood vessels show up on x rays. The dye can show whether a material called plaque (plak) has narrowed or blocked any of your heart’s arteries (called coronary arteries).

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in your blood. The buildup of plaque narrows the inside of the arteries and, in time, may restrict blood flow to your heart. When this happens, it’s called coronary artery disease (CAD).

Blockages in the arteries also can be seen using ultrasound during cardiac catheterization. Ultrasound uses sound waves to create detailed pictures of the heart’s blood vessels.

Doctors may take samples of blood and heart muscle during cardiac catheterization, as well as do minor heart surgery.

Cardiologists (doctors who specialize in treating people who have heart problems) usually perform cardiac catheterization in a hospital. You’re awake during the procedure, and it causes little to no pain, although you may feel some soreness in the blood vessel where your doctor put the catheter. Cardiac catheterization rarely causes serious complications.

Cardiac computed tomography (cardiac CT), is a painless test that uses an x-ray machine to take clear, detailed pictures of your heart. It’s a common test for showing problems of the heart. During a cardiac CT scan, the x-ray machine will move around your body in a circle and take a picture of each part of your heart.

Because an x-ray machine is used, cardiac CT scans involve radiation. However, the amount of radiation used is small. This test gives out a radiation dose similar to the amount of radiation you’re naturally exposed to over 3 years. There is a very small chance that cardiac CT will cause cancer.

Each picture that the machine takes shows a small slice of the heart. A computer will put the pictures together to make a large picture of the whole heart. Sometimes an iodine-based dye is injected into one of your veins during the scan to help highlight blood vessels and arteries on the x-ray images.

Overview

Cardiac CT is a common test for finding and evaluating:

• Problems in the heart. Iodine-based dye used with a cardiac CT scan can show pictures of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries are blood vessels on the surface of the heart. If these blood vessels are narrowed or blocked, you may have chest pain or a heart attack. The CT scan also can find problems with heart function and heart valves.

• Problems with the aorta. The aorta is the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. Cardiac CT can detect two serious problems in the aorta:

o Aneurysms, which are diseased areas of a weak blood vessel wall that bulge out. Aneurysms can be life threatening because they can burst.

o Dissections, which can occur when the layers of the aortic artery wall peel away from each other. This condition can cause pain and also may be life threatening.

• Blood clots in the lungs. A cardiac CT scan also may be used to find a pulmonary embolism, a serious but treatable condition. A pulmonary embolism is a sudden blockage in a lung artery, usually due to a blood clot that traveled to the lung from the leg.

• Pericardial disease. This is a disease that occurs in the pericardium, a sac around your heart.
Because the heart is in motion, a fast type of CT scanner, called multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), is used to show high-quality pictures of the heart.

Another type of CT scanner, called electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT), is used to detect calcium in the coronary arteries. Calcium in the coronary arteries may be an early sign of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Cardiac MRI is a safe, noninvasive test that creates detailed images of your organs and tissues. “Noninvasive” means that no surgery is done and no instruments are inserted into your body.

MRI uses radio waves and magnets to create images of your organs and tissues. Unlike computed tomography (to-MOG-ra-fee) scans (also called CT scans) or conventional x rays, MRI imaging doesn’t use ionizing radiation or carry any risk of causing cancer.

Cardiac MRI uses a computer to create images of your heart as it’s beating, producing both still and moving pictures of your heart and major blood vessels. Doctors use cardiac MRI to get images of the beating heart and to look at the structure and function of the heart. These images can help them decide how best to treat patients with heart problems.

Cardiac MRI is a common test for diagnosing and evaluating a number of diseases and conditions, including:

• Coronary artery disease
• Damage caused by a heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart valve problems
• Congenital heart defects
• Pericardial disease (a disease that affects the tissues around the heart)
• Cardiac tumors

Cardiac MRI images can help explain results from other tests, such as x ray and CT scans. Cardiac MRI is sometimes used to avoid the need for other tests that use radiation (such as x rays), invasive procedures, and dyes containing iodine (these dyes may be harmful to people who have kidney problems).

Sometimes during cardiac MRI, a special dye is injected into a vein to help highlight the heart or blood vessels on the images.

Unlike the case with x rays, the special dyes used for MRI don’t contain iodine, so they don’t present a risk to people who are allergic to iodine or have kidney problems.

Echocardiography is a painless test that uses sound waves to create images of your heart. It provides your doctor with information about the size and shape of your heart and how well your heart’s chambers and valves are working.

The test also can identify areas of heart muscle that aren’t contracting normally due to poor blood flow or injury from previous heart attack(s). In addition, a type of echocardiography called Doppler ultrasound shows how well blood flows through the chambers and valves of your heart. Echocardiography can detect possible blood clots inside the heart, fluid buildup in the sac around the heart (pericardium), and problems with the aorta (the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood out of the heart).

Who Needs Echocardiography?

Your doctor may recommend echocardiography if you’re suffering from signs and symptoms of heart problems. For example, symptoms such as shortness of breath and swelling in the legs can be due to weakness of the heart (heart failure), which can be seen on an echocardiogram.

Doctors also use echocardiography to provide information on:

• The size of your heart. An enlarged heart can be the result of high blood pressure, leaky heart valves, or heart failure.

• Heart muscles that are weak and aren’t moving (pumping) properly. Weakened areas of heart muscle can be due to damage from a heart attack. Or weakening could mean that the area isn’t getting enough blood supply, which can be due to coronary artery disease.

• Problems with your heart’s valves. Echocardiography can show whether any of the valves of your heart don’t open normally or don’t form a complete seal when closed.

• Abnormalities in the structure of your heart. Echocardiography can detect a variety of heart abnormalities, such as a hole in the septum (the wall that separates the two chambers on the left side of the heart from the two chambers on the right side) and other congenital heart defects (structural problems present at birth).

• The aorta. Echocardiography is commonly used to assess and detect problems with the aorta such as aneurysm (abnormal
bulge or “ballooning” in the wall of an artery).

• Blood clots or tumors. If you have had a stroke, echocardiography might be done to check for blood clots or tumors that may have caused it.

Doctors also use echocardiography to see how well your heart responds to certain heart treatments, such as treatment for heart failure.

Electrocardiogram (EKG) is a simple test that detects and records the electrical activity of the heart. It is used to detect and locate the source of heart problems.

Electrical signals in the heart trigger heartbeats. These signals start at the top of the heart in an area called the right atrium. The electrical signals travel from the top of the heart to the bottom. They cause the heart muscle to contract as they travel through the heart. As the heart contracts, it pumps blood out to the rest of the body.

An EKG shows how fast the heart is beating. It shows the heart’s rhythm (steady or irregular) and where in the body the heartbeat is being recorded. It also records the strength and timing of the electrical signals as they pass through each part of the heart.

An EKG is sometimes called a 12-lead EKG (or 12-lead ECG) because the electrical activity of the heart is most often recorded from 12 different places on the body at the same time.

What EKG Reveals

Many heart problems change the electrical signature of the heart in distinct ways. EKG recordings of this electrical activity can help reveal a number of heart problems, including:

• Heart attack
• Lack of blood flow to the heart muscle
• A heart that is beating irregularly, or too fast or too slow
• A heart that does not pump forcefully enough
EKG recordings can help doctors diagnose a heart attack that is happening now or has happened in the past. This is especially true if doctors can compare a current EKG recording to an older one. EKG recordings can also reveal:
• Heart muscle that is too thick or parts of the heart that are too big
• Birth defects in the heart
• Disease in the heart valves between the different heart chambers
An EKG also reveals whether the heartbeat starts at the top right part of the heart like it should. It shows how long it takes for the electrical signals to travel through the heart.

Nuclear heart scan is a type of medical test that allows your doctor to get important information about the health of your heart.

During a nuclear heart scan, a safe, radioactive material called a tracer is injected through a vein into your bloodstream. The tracer then travels to your heart. The tracer releases energy, which special cameras outside of your body detect. The cameras use the energy to create pictures of different parts of your heart.

Nuclear heart scans are used for three main purposes:

• To provide information about the flow of blood throughout the heart muscle. If the scan shows that one part of the heart muscle isn’t receiving blood, it’s a sign of a possible narrowing or blockage in the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to your heart). Decreased blood flow through the coronary arteries may mean you have coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD can lead to angina, heart attack, and other heart problems. When a nuclear heart scan is performed for this purpose, it’s called myocardial perfusion scanning.

• To look for damaged heart muscle. Damage may be due to a previous heart attack, injury, infection, or medicine. When a nuclear heart scan is performed for this purpose, it’s called myocardial viability testing.

• To see how well your heart pumps blood out to your body. When a nuclear heart scan is performed for this purpose, it’s called
ventricular function scanning.

Usually, two sets of pictures are taken during a nuclear heart scan. The first set is taken when the heart is beating fast due to you exercising. This is called a cardiac stress test. If you can’t exercise, your heart rate can be increased using medicines such as adenosine, dipyridamole, or dobutamine.

The second set of pictures is taken later, when the heart is at rest and beating at a normal rate.

Stress testing provides your doctor with information about how your heart works during physical stress. Some heart problems are easier to diagnose when your heart is working hard and beating fast. During a stress test, you exercise (walk or run on a treadmill or pedal a bicycle) or are given a medicine to make your heart work harder while heart tests are performed.

During these tests, your heart is monitored using images or through dime-sized electrodes attached to your chest, arms, or legs.

You may be asked to breathe into a special tube during the test. This will allow your doctor to see how well you’re breathing.

You may have arthritis or another medical problem that prevents you from exercising during a stress test. If so, your doctor can give you a medicine that makes your heart work harder, as it would if you were exercising. This is called a pharmacological (FAR-ma-ko-LOJ-i-kal) stress test.

Overview

Doctors usually use stress testing to help diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD) or to see how serious this disease is in those who are known to have it. It’s sometimes used to assess other problems such as heart valve abnormalities or heart failure.

CAD occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become hardened and narrowed with a material called plaque (plak). Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. Plaque builds up on the insides of the arteries, narrowing them and restricting blood flow to your heart.

You may not have any signs or symptoms of CAD when your heart is at rest. But when your heart has to work harder during exercise, it needs more blood and oxygen, and narrowed arteries aren’t able to supply enough blood for your heart to work well.

Thus, the signs and symptoms may occur only during exercise.

A stress test can detect the following indications that your heart may not be getting enough blood during exercise.

• Abnormal changes in your heart rate or blood pressure
• Symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest pain
• Abnormal changes in your heart rhythm or the electrical activity of your heart

During the stress test, if you can’t exercise for as long as what’s considered normal for someone your age, it may be a sign that not enough blood is flowing to your heart. But other factors besides CAD can prevent you from exercising long enough (for example, lung diseases, anemia, or poor general fitness).

Stress Testing Using Imaging

Some stress tests take pictures of the heart when you exercise and when you’re at rest. These imaging stress tests can show how well blood is flowing in the different parts of your heart and/or how well your heart squeezes out blood when it beats

One type of imaging stress test involves echocardiography, which is a test that uses sound waves to create a moving picture of your heart. An echocardiogram stress test can show how well your heart’s chambers and valves are working when your heart is under stress. The test can identify areas of poor blood flow to your heart, dead heart muscle tissue, and areas of the heart muscle wall that aren’t contracting normally. These areas may have been damaged during a heart attack or may be getting too little blood.

Other imaging stress tests use a radioactive dye to create images of the blood flow to your heart. The dye is injected into your bloodstream before pictures are taken of your heart. The pictures show how much of the dye has reached various parts of your heart during exercise and at rest.

Tests that use a radioactive dye include a thallium or sestamibi stress test and a positron emission tomography (PET) stress test. The amount of radiation in the dye is safe and not a danger to you or those around you. However, if you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t have this test because of risks it might pose to your unborn child.

Some doctors may use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to take pictures of the heart when it’s working hard. This test doesn’t use a radioactive dye or sound waves. Instead, it uses radio waves and magnetic fields to create images that show blood flow in the heart and whether all parts of the heart wall are contracting strongly.

Imaging stress tests tend to be more accurate at detecting CAD than standard (nonimaging) stress tests. An imaging stress test may be done first if you:

• Can’t exercise for enough time to get your heart working its hardest. (Medical problems, such as arthritis or leg arteries clogged by plaque, may prevent you from exercising enough.)

• Have abnormal heartbeats or other problems that will cause a standard exercise stress test to be inaccurate.

• Are a woman. Standard stress tests are less accurate in women than in men. If you’re a woman and live far from a testing facility, your doctor may want you to skip a standard stress test and get an imaging stress test instead. That way, you don’t have to make a second trip for the imaging stress test if there are any questions about the results from the standard stress test.

Fields Law heart disease disability attorneys will assist you in getting the correct diagnosis and documentation for your heart disease disability. If you are unable to work because of chronic heart disease we can help you apply for social security benefits. If you have been denied disability benefits we can appeal your case.

We offer a Free case review. Our Minnesota disability lawyers understand how frustrating it is to have chronic heart disease and be denied disability benefits when you are unable to work. There are never any fees unless we win your disability case.