Question:
Cardiac stress tests a surgery stopper???

I had my cardiology appointment the other day and the dr said I had a slight murmur and some other "irregularities". Now I am scheduled to have those nuclear stress tests and an echocardiagram. I have surgery in less than three weeks and am so scared this will delay my surgery. Anyone have any experience with this?    — Jennifer R. (posted on April 10, 2003)

April 10, 2003
I also had to have a cardiac echo and exam by a cardiologist (who did note a soft murmur) because I had been on phen/fen. My surgery was also scheduled when I had these tests, and the cardiologist cleared me for the surgery. Of course, if there is a BIG problem, it might cancel or delay your surgery, but I was told that in my case, it was just so they knew, during anesthesia, exactly what they were dealing with. I had my surgery in early February, and have had no problems.
   — johanniter

April 10, 2003
Hi Lisa, I just had an echocardiogram on Monday & a stress test on Wed. My surgery date is Tues. 4/15/03 & I was getting frantic about the results & getting cleared for surgery. My tests came back OK & the cardiologist is clearing me for the surgery date. However, if anything was amiss, I'd rather know about it before surgery so that the surgeon & anesthesiologist could be prepared to deal with any cardiac issues. You want to come through your surgery & recovery with the least possible risk to yourself.Try to go with the flow on this.Everything will probably be OK. Let the group know how you make out. Hugs, Joyce
   — Joyce S.

April 11, 2003
I am a nurse with a Bariatric Surgery Center. If one of our patients has an abnormal EKG, we do a stress test to identify any problems or potential problems. We have not had to cancel a surgery due to the test, but it has allowed us to take precautions during surgery and recovery. As stated before, it is benefial for us to know, but also benefial for you. I think you would rather know ahead of surgery than not find out and have something go wrong during or after surgery.
   — drum_mer1

April 11, 2003
A stress test in and of itself isn't necessarily a surgery stopper. However, I was scheduled for gallbladder surgery 5 years ago, they ran all kinds of tests on my heart right up to a heart catheterization to visualize the function of the heart because there were abnormalities in all of the tests. This delayed my surgery two weeks. Just recently, the same thing happened. I was scheduled for neck surgery. In doing preop, EKG abnormal, cardiologist decided since it had been 6 years, and the stress test was again abnormal, they should do another heart cath. The results of my cath showed some coronary artery disease, but nothing significant for any type of procedure to be required. Point is, my neck surgery was scheduled 1/29 and had to be rescheduled for 2/12 because I had to have the cath scheduled, get the results, get back to my cardiologist, and get clearance. Guess what I'm saying.... could delay surgery :(
   — Robin H.