Cardiologists at the Redlands Main and Banning Specialty Care facilities offer cardiac diagnostic testing.
The Cardiology Department at Beaver Medical Group has a full complement of non-invasive cardiac diagnostic capabilities, including cardiac arrhythmia monitoring, cardiovascular stress testing, pacemaker analysis, and echocardiography. Non-invasive cardiac testing is the first choice for most patients, whether to diagnose new onset of cardiovascular disease or to ascertain the status of a patient with known problems. These non-invasive tests are painless and as the name implies, do not require the insertion of needles or other objects into the body. A further benefit is that these tests are performed on an outpatient basis, eliminating the need for overnight hospitalization. In many instances, a patient may have a test performed and obtain results from a cardiologist before leaving the department.
The Cardiology Department uses state-of-the-art non-invasive cardiac testing equipment, including computerized stress test systems with treadmills and high-resolution echocardiographs. The stress test systems allow the patient to safely exercise in a controlled environment so as to simulate conditions which might bring on chest pain or cardiac arrhythmias. Stress testing helps the cardiologist to evaluate a patient's level of fitness, need for medication, or need for invasive cardiac testing (such as catheterization or electrical study of the heart).
Echocardiography allows the imaging of heart structures as small as one of the letters on this screen by the use of ultrasound. The echocardiographs provide detailed views of the heart chambers, walls, valves, heart function, and color-encoded imaging of blood flow through the heart. The high quality of this equipment increases the diagnostic capabilities of the tests and provides the cardiologist with an excellent tool upon which to help base clinical decisions. In many cases, the need for invasive testing of the heart is eliminated due to the wealth of information obtained by echocardiography.