As charities call for an increase in cardiac screenings to prevent heart attacks in young people, we look at what happens during tests, and what medics are looking for.
The charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), offer free heart screenings for young people aged 14 to 35, in a bid to spot potential heart defects before they cause serious health risks.
The organisation releases booking slots one month before their scheduled screening days, allowing people to secure a place to get their hearts tested.
Patients with appointments fill out a questionnaire, and their weight and height is taken before they get scanned.
During the screening
A echocardiogram (ECG) machine is used to screen for inherited cardiac conditions using sound waves to create pictures of the heart and record the sinus rhythm, or heart rate, of the patient.
Heartbeat abnormalities are detected by ECGs that could prevent sudden arrhythmia death syndrome, where someone dies suddenly from a cardiac arrest.
The recordings can reveal abnormal heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias, that may not be identified by a scan of the heart’s structure.
Teresa Brennan, a specialist cardiac physiologist at CRY, said: “The ECG is the important part, and that’s the bit that people worry about, because they always think it going to be painful. It’s completely painless.”
Young men need their bare chest and arms accessible to the doctors, and young women can be scanned without removing their tops.
Patients lay down in a supine position, lying on their back with their face and abdomen facing upwards, on a bed next to the ECG machine.
Electrode clips are then placed on the patient’s chest that detect the natural activity in the body.
Ms Brennan said: “Once the person is comfortable and we can see on the screen that we have a good recording, we press to begin the recording.
“The results come out onto a graph, and then that graph gives all the information and that’s what’s seen by the doctor.”
After the screening
Doctors check if the patient’s ECG recording shows a normal sinus rhythm, which indicate a healthy heart.
If the recording shows an abnormal heart rhythm, a letter is sent to the patient’s GP and they are referred to their local hospital for further testing.
Steve Cox, CEO of CRY, said: “We believe it’s about 95% of conditions will be picked up by the ECG.”
However, Dr William Parker, a NIHR clinical lecture in cardiology at the University of Sheffield, believes not all ECG recordings which are detect abnormalities result in a heart disease diagnosis.
CRY recommends regular heart screenings for individuals aged 14 to 35 to detect any risk of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome as their hearts develop. To book a heart screening appointment with CRY visit their website.
