Melbourne Paediatric Cardiology

Exercise stress testing can be used in the assessment of arrhythmias (heart rhythm abnormalities), syncope (fainting or loss of consciousness), chest pain and in long term follow of structural and functional heart disease.

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The "stress" of the test is a progressive increase in the speed of the treadmill from walking to running. This produces a graded workload on the heart which increases both the heart rate and blood pressure. The ECG is observed throughout the test to ensure that there are no abnormalities of the electrical activity of the heart.