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You are in: Home > Heart Information > Living With Heart Conditions > Heart Attack > Assessment And Treatment > Tests And Diagnosis

Tests And Diagnosis

As soon as ambulance, or medical, staff arrive they will begin tests to find out what is happening to you. These will include:

• ECG (electrocardiogram): to show the amount of damage to the heart muscle and where the damage is.
• Assessment of blood pressure and oxygen levels.

• Blood tests: taken for cardiac enzyme and troponin levels.

  Enzymes are released from damaged muscle cells and help to reflect the severity of damage to the heart muscle.
  Troponin is a protein which is released into the blood stream when the heart muscle is damaged. The troponin level provides a quick and accurate measure of any heart muscle damage.

These tests will help to give medical staff to make a definite diagnosis and decide what treatment is best for you.

Types of heart attack

Your ECG will show which of the two main types of MI (heart attack) you have had.

This will be either:

• Non ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI): where there is a partial blockage in one of your coronary arteries but some blood is still able to flow to the heart muscle.
• ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI): where there is a complete blockage in one of your coronary arteries.

ST elevation is an abnormal change in the pattern of your ECG which indicates the severity of interuption in the blood flow to your heart.

Which type of MI you have will decide what emergency treatment is right for you.

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