St. John Hospital and Medical Center Noninvasive Cardiology department performs noninvasive testing for outpatient and admitted patients, utilizing the latest technology to diagnose all forms of cardiac disease.
The Noninvasive Cardiology department staff includes cardiologists, registered nurses, echo technologists and ECG technicians.
NonInvasive Cardiology
St. John Hospital and Medical Center
22151 Moross Road
Suite 108, Professional Building 1
Detroit, MI 48236
Phone: (313) 343-3595
Fax (313) 343-7556
Directory of Noninvasive Cardiology phone numbers
Directions: From interstate I-94 take exit 224B onto Moross Road. Go one mile east. You will see the St. John Health buildings on the left. Parking is available in the North lot or East deck parking structure ($2) or valet parking is available in front of Professional Building 1 for $3.
Appointments
Outpatient Hours: 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. M-F
Physicians or their staff may schedule outpatient appointments for noninvasive studies by calling 1-800-801-8882, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F. Inpatient echocardiograms and stress tests may be scheduled on weekends. For questions or specific information about studies, please call (313) 343-3595.
To best serve you and your patient, please have the patient bring a prescription or our order form with a description of signs, symptoms or known clinical diagnoses and the clinical question you want answered. You may also FAX your order to (313) 343-7556. Please call (313) 343-3595 if you would like us to mail you pad(s) of our order forms which include a reference to this web site and a map to our lab.
Please note that Medicare does not reimburse procedures ordered to “rule-out” or “assess” a structure or unestablished condition, pre-op clearance, or functional evaluation. Instead, please indicate the reason for your concern, such as abnormal EKG, chest pain, shortness of breath, fever, etc. It also is important to document clinical changes that prompt requests for repeat procedures within 6 to 12 months.
Services
- Electrocardiography
- Stress Electrocardiography
- Holter and events monitoring
- Transthoracic echocardiography
- Stress echocardiography
- Dobutamine echocardiography
- Transesophageal echocardiography
- Nuclear Adenosine Imaging
- Nuclear Exercise Imaging
- Pacemaker assessment
Patient Information
A description of each procedure and patient preparation is listed on a patient oriented web site at www.stjohn.org/heartview.
Patient Preparation
Fasting
Fasting requirements are 6 hours for transesophageal echocardiography, 4 hours for dobutamine echocardiography, 3 hours for exercise stress tests with echocardiographic imaging, 6 hours for exercise stress tests with nuclear imaging, and 6 hours for nuclear adenosine imaging. Generally, patients can continue to take their medications with sips of water, except for adenosine nuclear imaging which requires complete NPO, including water, for 2 hours before the test.
Medications and caffeine
Adenosine nuclear imaging: Adenosine studies also require 24 hour abstinence from theophyllin preparations, Persantin, and caffeinated products (coffee, teach, chocolates, other candies, certain medications, such as Anacin, Excedrin, No-Doze, Vivarin). Patients should abstain from cigarettes and nicotine containing products 2 hours before the study. If patient safety permits, antianginals, including nitrates, should be held for 6 hours prior to the test.
Dobtuamine echocardiography: Beta blockers, diltiazem, and verapamil may prevent dobutamine from increasing heart rate, which in turn may decrease the sensitivity of the echo study. When heart rate response to dobutamine is inadequate, atropine will be given, unless the patient has a history of glaucoma or difficulty urinating because of prostatic hypertrophy. If symptoms and blood pressure control permit, an adequate heart rate response during the study may be better achieved if long acting or once a day beta blockers, diltiazem, and verapamil are stopped the day before and the day of the test. If your patient is taking short acting medications several times per day, consider holding the evening dose and the medication the day of the test until after the procedure.
Hypertension: Tests may be delayed or rescheduled if the patient arrives in the lab with uncontrolled hypertension.
Results
Preliminary results are generally available within 24 hours of the procedure and are accessible usually within several hours of interpretation on the HBO system. Final reports are mailed within five working days. Please call us to receive expedited results which can be faxed directly to you. Our staff is instructed not to give results to patients directly.
New Methods
This website will be periodically updated to describe new methodologies and be a reference to you.
Stress Testing -- Exercise stress tests now report heart rate recovery, chronotropic index, and Duke Treadmill Scores.
TEE quantification of aortic regurgitation
Ventricular Ectopy and Stress Testing
