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Heart Disease: Diagnosing Heart Failure

To diagnose heart failure, your doctor will perform a physical examination and also check for other risk factors such as high blood pressure. The Cleveland Clinic  and the American Heart Association state that your doctor may also use one or more of the tools or procedures below to diagnose your heart failure.

Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)

An electrocardiogram is a device used to record the electrical activity of the heart on graph paper. An EKG (or ECG) is used to diagnose poor blood flow to the heart, diagnose heart chamber enlargement and abnormal electrical conduction, assess your heart rhythm, and diagnose a heart attack.

Echocardiogram (Echo)

An echocardiogram is a graphic outline of your heart's movement, which uses ultrasounds to provide pictures of your heart's valves and chambers and help the sonographer evaluate the pumping action of the heart. The next step may be a reading called the ejection fraction, which measures how much blood the heart's left ventricle pumps out with each contraction.

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) Blood Test

BNP is a substance secreted from the ventricles or lower chambers of the heart in response to changes in pressure that occur when heart failure develops and worsens. The level of BNP increases when heart failure symptoms worsen, and decreases when the condition is stable.

Other procedures that may be conducted include:

• A radionuclide ventriculography or multiple-gated acquisition scanning
• Chest X-rays
• An angiography
• An exercise stress test