Cardiac screening

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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I have no known cardiac issues. Neither did my wife until last year when she had a heart attack. They did in angiogram and found a partial blockage. She has fully recovered with a stent. But if she held a 3rd class medical the FAA would have had an issue.

Is there a cardiac test/screening/checkup that I could take that would not get the FAA worked up? I do routine colonoscopies for colon cancer and the FAA is ok with that. Is there a routine cardiac screening that does not say to the FAA, "This guy has some heart issues. We are not going to issue his next 3rd class medical" ? I would like to be proactive on this issue.
 
At your next routine physical, talk to your doctor about your concerns, plus the story of your wife's "all was well until it wasn't", and ask him to do a thorough work up on cardiac risk factors. In my unwashed layman opinion, this would likely will be shown as a routine visit and not coded in a way that would get dirty looks from FAA.

Unsure if this helps at all, but my plans soon are to seek a first class medical next renewal. Long term plans at the moment include professional aviator, but not certain which angle I'll pursue. Having the knowledge I obtained and can maintain a first will aid in defining which angle.

Since a first class medical includes an EKG administered by the AME, I plan to ask my to ask my local doc to administer one first. Mainly to comply with the "know before you go" philosophy we promote. So doing this along with "please run the entire risk factor list", I'll know where I stand before telling the FAA anything.
 
Bruce Stress treadmill to heart rate=90% of (220-YourAge)*0.9 and nine minutes. The definitive screening test.
 
bbchien said:
Bruce Stress treadmill to heart rate=90% of (220-YourAge)*0.9 and nine minutes. The definitive screening test.
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Random thought: could you do this on your treadmill at home with some sort of fitness wristband thingy (or my aviation pulse oximeter for that matter) and get the same results? Or do you need it to be professionally monitored and reviewed?
 
Someone questioning if they have cardiac disease might not want to try doing a roll your own exercise stress test at home.
 
mryan75 said:
Random thought: could you do this on your treadmill at home with some sort of fitness wristband thingy (or my aviation pulse oximeter for that matter) and get the same results? Or do you need it to be professionally monitored and reviewed?
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For emphasis

FORANE said:
Someone questioning if they have cardiac disease might not want to try doing a roll your own exercise stress test at home.
Click to expand...

Now, if you’re in good health and exercise regularly, and just want to do one recreationally, some fitness centers all the equipment necessary to conduct a Bruce test, attended to by their staff.

CAUTION: The Bruce treadmill test should not be done without a physician's clearance and expert supervision.

More info on the protocol here:

https://www.acefitness.org/ptresources/pdfs/TestingProtocols/TreadmillExerciseTesting.pdf
 
Let's say someone is very active, relatively in shape, late 50s, BMI and has a twin-lead pacemaker necessitated by rhythm issues that developed in mid adult life caused by childhood heart surgery to repair a congential VSD defect. Those rhythm issues led to tricuspid valve repair and twin aortic reductions and the twin-lead pacemaker implant. Paced at 70bpm, and settings cause rate to rise when activity is sensed kinetically. Long hikes (15 miles), daily strenuous activity (yardwork, digging out stumps, planting shrubs), running up three flights of stairs.. none of that is an issue for this person.
Out of curiosity, how does having a pacemaker influence a Bruce protocol test if the maximum heart rate, or any heart rate for that matter, is regulated by a pacemaker?
 
It depends on what you might have. A Holter monitor reveals things that a treadmill might not.
 
FORANE said:
Someone questioning if they have cardiac disease might not want to try doing a roll your own exercise stress test at home.
Click to expand...
Please read what I wrote. I have no suspicions, heartwise. Cholesterols below 200, BP 120/80.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Please read what I wrote. I have no suspicions, heartwise. Cholesterols below 200, BP 120/80.
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I was not trying to be flippant. My post was primarily in response to the post #5. Sounds like your wife had no suspicions prior to her MI either. I would contribute an answer to the question you posed, but I lack the knowledge of what gets the FAA worked up.
 
mryan75 said:
Random thought: could you do this on your treadmill at home with some sort of fitness wristband thingy (or my aviation pulse oximeter for that matter) and get the same results? Or do you need it to be professionally monitored and reviewed?
Click to expand...
No because you would not have the ability to see the strain changes on the ekg that would typically denote a positive test
 
Please have mercy on the pedants among us: BMI is not a percent.
 
I asked my doctor this a few years ago, and I was put on a LexiScan, and after my doc said "You're good for a decade at least", which seemed... well, over-optimistic for a GP... was it a valuable test, or a placebo? I had not heard of the Bruce test at the time. Tempted to request it at next physical.

FAA never asked after it. Maybe I did something foolish and there could've been something nonspecific found to trip me up.
 
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