Your doctor may suggest you get an electrocardiogram - also called an EKG or ECG - to check for signs of heart disease. It's a test that records the electrical activity of your ticker through small electrode patches that a technician attaches to the skin of your chest, arms, and legs.

Besides the standard EKG, your doctor may recommend other kinds:

• Holter monitor.

• Event recorder.

An echocardiogram (sometimes just called ‘echo’) is a non-invasive imaging test using ultrasound to look at your heart. It is used to gain information regarding the structure and function of the heart muscles, chambers of the heart and structures within the heart such as the valves.

This test is to assess the blood flow to the heart muscle, and the possibility of lack of blood supply to the heart at stress or exercise – like conditions.

We exercise the heart using one or two medications, and we use a special dye to make the heart visualise more clearly on the echo machine. We need to get your heart to a certain level dependent on your age.

A bubble contrast echocardiogram uses imaging ultrasound combined with an injection of microbubble contrast to help determine additional information, such as, whether you have any holes in the heart.

A Cardiac CT is a scan of the heart and its blood vessels (coronary arteries) using a CT scanner. |

A CT scanner uses x-rays (radiation) to produce the scan, providing very detailed images. These images can detect early signs of heart disease, otherwise known as Coronary Heart Disease.