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Can Incorrect Cuff During Stress Test Lead To Incorrect Results?

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Posted on Wed, 30 Apr 2014
Question: Hi my name is XXXXXXX I am 42, overweight. non smoker... Never had high blood pressure or cholesterol . I have had Holter Monitors, Echo grams, Ekgs all normal ...and in Sept I had an exercise stress test. When I went to have the stress test preformed, the doctor did not place the cuff on correctly. It get slipping and they kept having a problem getting it to work. During the test I felt fine. But the test kept taking the incorrect blood pressure measurements and over halfway through it , they stopped the test.. I am very anemic at the momemt and was at the time of the test. That was in Sept. I get a phone call today from the same doctor(it is a public doctor in Australia) asking me if I ever went to get my angiogram. Being a bit puzzled I told her I have not talked to anyone since the Stress test. She vaguely remembered the stress test, but she said that there was a small dip on the bottom line *?) And I needed more testing. She said the test was negative, but also inconclusive and I really needed further testing.. Im a bit worried as I live in remote Australia and will not be able to get this test done for 4 more weeks. Is it possible that stopping the test early, and not putting the cuff on correctly cause the inconclusive results?
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Answered by Dr. Lohit K (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: yes. will give inconclusive report Detailed Answer: Hi, I went through the query and understood your concern. Relax. At your age with BP, Sugar and cholesterol at normal levels, with normal ECG, ECHO and holter monitoring and no other symptoms the chance of cardiac problem is very unlikely. Yes with incorrect cuff or lead placements the values will show abnormal. Even stopping the test early lead to inconclusive results. As the name suggest, without giving the enough stress to heart, early stopping of test even without signs and symptoms will give rise to inconclusive result. For clarification you can get the test repeated once more. Hope this information helps you. Feel free to ask for any further queries and I will be glad to answer them. Wish you good health. Regards
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Lohit K

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2007

Answered : 1648 Questions

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Can Incorrect Cuff During Stress Test Lead To Incorrect Results?

Brief Answer: yes. will give inconclusive report Detailed Answer: Hi, I went through the query and understood your concern. Relax. At your age with BP, Sugar and cholesterol at normal levels, with normal ECG, ECHO and holter monitoring and no other symptoms the chance of cardiac problem is very unlikely. Yes with incorrect cuff or lead placements the values will show abnormal. Even stopping the test early lead to inconclusive results. As the name suggest, without giving the enough stress to heart, early stopping of test even without signs and symptoms will give rise to inconclusive result. For clarification you can get the test repeated once more. Hope this information helps you. Feel free to ask for any further queries and I will be glad to answer them. Wish you good health. Regards