Gregory S. Thomas, L. Samuel Wann, and Myrvin H. Ellestad (eds.) Ellestad’s stress testing: Principles and practice; 6th Edition

Excerpt

Stress testing is an essential tool that has been in use for almost a century. While mostly perceived as a test for detecting inducible myocardial ischemia, stress testing provides a wealth of diagnostic and prognostic information. For example, stress testing can shed light on the timing of onset and offset of symptoms and ischemia related to exertion, functional capacity, arrhythmia, hemodynamic changes, and autonomic function. In patients who are able to perform the test, exercise stress is superior to pharmacologic stress since it provides this incremental information. It is fascinating that despite the gargantuan advancement in imaging, exercise stress testing without imaging performed using protocols developed in the 1950s and 1960s continues to have a major role in the management of patients who are capable of adequately exercising and have a relatively normal electrocardiogram (ECG) to this day. …