I had my heart attack at the end of May and have been progressing well. Now on stage 4 rehab at my local gym. One thing that is starting to bug me and I want to understand is when I had an ultra sound scan to determine when I could leave hospital a percentage figure was banded about, but I don't really know what this means. I was told that my heart was 45%, but what odes that mean - only 45% of it is working or the heart attack damaged 45%? Can anyone help with this please?
Andy
This is almost certainly a reference to your EF - ejection fraction, which is measured with ultrasound. It means when your left ventricle fills with blood it pumps out 45% of its volume into your body. Normal is anything from 55-65%. So yours is a bit low, but not drastically so. In fact if this was measured soon after your heart attack it may have improved with medication.
Congratulations on keeping up with exercise after your cardiac rehab!
Thank you very much for that explanation, it makes sense now. I appreciate your reply.
I agree that they're almost certainly talking about your EF, my husbands EF is 30. Do you have a HF nurse who confirm it or ask your GP? Are they keeping they're eye on you to see if it improves, of not, perhaps thats something else to ask about. Glad your doing well x
This is to do with ‘ejection fraction’ or pumping efficiency if you want to view it that way. It’s measured at your left ventricle. Typical target is around 55%, so while 45% isn’t great, it’s not horrendous either (mine was similar post bypass) and I’m doing fine. What I don’t know is if it gets better or if you can do anything to make it better. Feel some Google activity coming to answer that for myself.
thanks Steven, it was one of those things that I glossed over with everything else that was going on, but then it started to bug me
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