If you have symptoms or risk factors for heart disease, your doctor can use different tests to evaluate heart function and detect blockages. Electrocardiograms, or EKGs, can show if the heart has been damaged. Exercise tolerance tests, also known as stress tests, measure the heart's ability to supply the body with oxygen.

But for pinpointing blockages, X-ray images called angiograms are essential. Angiograms use an iodine-based X-ray contrast dye and a camera to take pictures of blood flow in a vessel. The patient is usually awake for the procedure and is given a local anesthetic. A guide wire is threaded into an artery, usually near the patient's groin, and guided up into the heart until it reaches a blockage. Then a tiny, flexible hose called a catheter is threaded over the wire; the patient does not feel the catheter moving through the body.

More on this topic

When Arteries Become Blocked (VIDEO)
Watch an Angioplasty Procedure (VIDEO)
Blood Supply to the Heart
Atherosclerosis & Your Heart
Detecting Blockages
Angiogram Imaging
How Angioplasty Works
Angioplasty Risks & Complications
Preventing an Angioplasty
3D Heart

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