16 Oct Taranaki business brings specialist healthcare to region
A Taranaki company is now offering specialist cardiac testing that wasn’t previously available in the region.
A Stress Echocardiograph is “an ultrasound of the heart”, CardioScan Aotearoa general manager and sleep physiologist Jez Morris said.
“The echocardiogram (echo) has been available at the hospital and privately, but demand far exceeds the ability to deliver.”
Now, CardioScan Aotearoa have combined the echo with a stress test.
It doesn’t replace the echo, Morris said.
“It’s sort of added value. So, it gives us insight on how the heart functions, whilst the patient’s exercised. We’re allowed to look at the chambers. It’s got what we call a higher sensitivity. It’s great on looking at valvular disease.”
The tests need to be read by specially trained cardiologists and there was no one in Taranaki with the right training.
“But, because of the platform we use where we upload it to a server, we can have cardiologists from out of region, who are specialists in reading stress echoes, looking at them and giving recommendations.”
