Tachycardia Diagnosis
Your doctor will ask about your family history of heart disease and cardiac arrhythmias. Also examine your personal medical history and ask if you had any of the conditions that can lead to tachycardia, including coronary artery disease, heart valve abnormalities, heart valve disease caused by rheumatoid fever, lung disease, thyroid disorders, medications and nutritional factors. The doctor will ask about your symptoms.
During the physical exam, your doctor will monitor your heart rate and rhythm, as well as the pulse. In tachycardia, your pulse may not match the heart sounds your doctor hears through a stethoscope. This will also check if your heart is dilated, if heart murmurs (sign of a problem in the heart valves), abnormal sounds in the lungs and physical signs of thyroid abnormalities (enlarged thyroid gland, tremors, muscle and eye wear bulging).
To assess more about your tachycardia, your doctor will have an electrocardiogram (ECG). However, as some forms of tachycardia come and go, one in the office ECG may be normal. If this is the case, is likely to perform a test called ambulatory electrocardiogram. During this test, the patient carries with it, usually for 24 hours, a portable ECG device called a Holter. If symptoms are infrequent, you may need to take this monitor for longer. You will be taught to press a button to record EKG reading when I have symptoms.
The results of physical examination is necessary to determine whether other tests, including blood tests to measure levels of thyroid hormones, an echocardiogram to monitor cardiac valve abnormalities, a coronary angiography to detect coronary artery disease and other tests. Sometimes doctors perform “electrophysiology tests” by which special catheters inserted into the heart to collect information on the patterns of electrical activity of the heart.