Taylor Swift shared recently that her father, Scott Swift, was out of the woods after doctors found several dangerous blockages in his heart during a stress test.
Taylor told the that finding the problem early can sometimes mean simple treatments like medicine or stents instead of big surgeries.
A stress test shows how well blood flows to your heart when it鈥檚 working harder. This can be done by having you walk on a treadmill or ride a bike.
鈥淲e prefer, if we can, to do an exercise stress test with imaging,鈥 says Melissa Tracy, MD, professor of medicine and heart doctor at Rush. 鈥淓xercise raises your heart rate and blood pressure, and we can see how your heart reacts. When we add pictures of the heart, we get the best information being able to see if the blood supply to the heart muscle is normal or reduced.鈥
If you can鈥檛 exercise, doctors can give you medicine that makes your heart act like it鈥檚 exercising. Regadenoson (brand name Lexiscan) can 鈥渢rick鈥 the heart that it is exercising and identify areas of poor flow.
鈥淣ormal blood vessels open. Diseased vessels don鈥檛,鈥 Tracy explains. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we can spot trouble that a regular checkup might miss.鈥 Scott Swift鈥檚 problem wasn鈥檛 found during his regular checkups. But his stress test showed five blocked arteries 鈥 requiring quintuple bypass surgery. That鈥檚 a scenario heart doctors know all too well.
鈥淚f he had the medicine stress test, he may have shown high-risk signs 鈥 like symptoms during the test, or poor blood flow in many areas,鈥 Tracy says. 鈥淭hat often means surgery is the safest choice.鈥
Don鈥檛 wait
Call your doctor or 911 right away if you notice:
- Chest pressure, tightness, or pain (especially with activity)
- Shortness of breath that鈥檚 worse than normal
- Unexplained tiredness, dizziness, or fainting
- Pain in the jaw, neck, shoulder, back, or arm when you鈥檙e active
鈥淲e don鈥檛 do stress tests just because you have risk factors or family history,鈥 Tracy says. 鈥淲e do them when you have symptoms. The most important thing is not to ignore warning signs.鈥 Without timely care, damage to the heart muscle can be permanent 鈥 or fatal.
Should you ask about a stress test?
Ask your doctor if you have:
- Symptoms during activity, even if they seem small. These symptoms may go away with rest.
- Risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, older age, overweight, or family history of heart disease
- Abnormal results from another heart test
If you don鈥檛 have symptoms or high risk, a stress test isn鈥檛 usually needed. But Tracy says there are other good checks you can do:
鈥淎 coronary calcium score is quick, safe, and tells us if you have plaque in your heart arteries. I also recommend everyone have their lipoprotein(a) checked at least once 鈥 it鈥檚 a type of cholesterol that鈥檚 genetic and can raise your risk.鈥
You鈥檙e not on your own, kid
A heart block, or five, in Swift鈥檚 case, will have you down bad.
鈥淜now your family history. Know your risk factors. Exercise. Eat healthy. And please 鈥 don鈥檛 smoke or vape,鈥 Tracy says. 鈥淭here is nothing safe or sexy about it. So Swifties, please don鈥檛 do it.鈥
Schedule a check-in or a stress test if your clinician recommends it.
