Most heart problems can be treated through procedures or lifestyle changes, but effective treatment relies on an accurate and timely diagnosis. The Sutter network offers a wide range of medically recognized diagnostic methods and technologies to identify the type and location of your heart condition.

Laboratory Tests

Basic blood work can reveal a wealth of information about your heart. Depending on your doctor’s recommendations, our labs can test for a variety of things that can be helpful in diagnosing a heart condition. These may include high cholesterol or lipoprotein-a, which are risk factors for heart disease; C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation; and both A1C and blood sugar, two indicators of diabetes or prediabetes.

Stress Tests

These non-invasive tests help measure the amount of blood pumping through your heart during rest and exercise. We offer a variety of stress tests, including: exercise or treadmill stress test, nuclear stress test and stress echocardiogram.

Imaging

Doctors use cardiovascular imaging techniques, either alone or with other procedures, when they want to see into the heart, veins or arteries and produce images noninvasively. Sutter care centers have a wide selection of imaging services. Some imaging tests for the heart use a small amount of radioactive tracer, such as nuclear ventriculography and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). Angiograms and heart CT scans use X-rays, while echocardiogram and intravascular ultrasound use sound waves.

Heart Rhythm Monitoring

Sutter network doctors use a noninvasive test called an electrocardiogram (EKG) to record the electrical activity of the heart.

Heartflow CT Scan 

The Sutter Health network now offers the latest in cardiac imaging with HeartFlow CT scan analysis. Using your CT scan, this technology creates a 3D model of your heart, showing where blockages are affecting blood flow. This non-invasive procedure can help your doctor diagnose coronary artery disease and determine next steps in your care.