Canadian Medical Guide > Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment > Diagnosis > Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures > Diagnostic Techniques, Cardiovascular > Heart Function Tests Terms and Definitions

Heart Function Tests

Medical Definition:
Guide Notes:	/drug eff /rad eff permitted

Heart Function Tests Categories.

	Ballistocardiography - Technique of graphic representation of the movements of the body imparted by the ballistic forces (recoil and impact) associated with cardiac contraction and ejection of blood and with the deceleration of blood flow through the large blood vessels. These movements, quantitatively very minute, are translated by a pickup device (transducer) into an electrical potential which is suitably amplified and recorded on a conventional electrocardiograph or other recording machine.
	Cardiac Output - The volume of BLOOD passing through the HEART per unit of time. It is usually expressed as liters (volume) per minute so as not to be confused with STROKE VOLUME (volume per beat).
	Cardiography, Impedance - A type of impedance plethysmography in which bioelectrical impedance is measured between electrodes positioned around the neck and around the lower thorax. It is used principally to calculate stroke volume and cardiac volume, but it is also related to myocardial contractility, thoracic fluid content, and circulation to the extremities.
	Cardiotocography - Monitoring of fetal heart frequency before birth in order to assess impending prematurity in relation to the pattern or intensity of antepartum UTERINE CONTRACTION.
	Electrocardiography - Recording of the moment-to-moment electromotive forces of the HEART as projected onto various sites on the body's surface, delineated as a scalar function of time. The recording is monitored by a tracing on slow moving chart paper or by observing it on a cardioscope, which is a CATHODE RAY TUBE DISPLAY.
	Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac - Invasive procedures whereby tachyarrhythmias (TACHYCARDIA), induced or spontaneous, are mapped via heart catheterization techniques for the investigation of electrical activities in the heart. In addition to diagnostic purposes, the techniques of intracardiac programmed electrostimulation are used therapeutically.
	Exercise Test - Controlled physical activity, more strenuous than at rest, which is performed in order to allow assessment of physiological functions, particularly cardiovascular and pulmonary, but also aerobic capacity. Maximal (most intense) exercise is usually required but submaximal exercise is also used. The intensity of exercise is often graded, using criteria such as rate of work done, oxygen consumption, and heart rate.
	Heart Auscultation - Act of listening for sounds within the heart.
	Heart Catheterization - Procedure which includes placement of catheter, recording of intracardiac and intravascular pressure, obtaining blood samples for chemical analysis, and cardiac output measurement, etc. Specific angiographic injection techniques are also involved.
	Kinetocardiography - The graphic recording of chest wall movement due to cardiac impulses.
	Oximetry - The determination of oxygen-hemoglobin saturation of blood either by withdrawing a sample and passing it through a classical photoelectric oximeter or by electrodes attached to some translucent part of the body like finger, earlobe, or skin fold. It includes non-invasive oxygen monitoring by pulse oximetry.
	Pulse - The rhythmical expansion and contraction of an ARTERY produced by waves of pressure caused by the ejection of BLOOD from the left ventricle of the HEART as it contracts.
	Valsalva Maneuver - Forced expiratory effort against a closed GLOTTIS. It is used to study cardiovascular effects of increased peripheral VENOUS PRESSURE and decreased cardiac filling and output.

Heart Function Tests Medical Definitions and Terms

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