Internal Medicine

Electrocardiogram

Electrocardiogram (ECG) measures the electrical activity of your heart at rest.

Stress Test at Health Screening Centre

Since 1st of September 2020, stress test was carried out at Health screening Centre, Mediplex for patients who purchased health screening packages with SJMC. Prior to this, the patients were required to have radiology & laboratory tests in Health Screening Centre followed by stress test at Diagnostic Services department on the 5th floor of Outpatient Centre. This improvement resulted in shorter patient wait time and reduces movement of health screening patients between Mediplex and Outpatient Centre.

A stress test shows how our heart works during physical activity. Because exercise makes our heart pump harder and faster, an exercise stress test can reveal problems with blood flow within our heart. A stress test involves walking on a treadmill and heart rhythm, blood pressure and breathing are monitored.

A stress test can be completed in 20-30 minutes and the patient is monitored throughout the time by a trained technologist. A cardiologist is on hand at the Health Screening Centre to review the results and report the stress test.

Beside selecting stress test during a health screening visit, the doctor may recommend a stress test if there are signs or symptoms of coronary artery disease or an irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia). The test may also guide treatment decisions, measure the effectiveness of treatment or determine the severity if you've already been diagnosed with a heart condition.

Echocardiogram

Echocardiogram uses ultrasounds to produce image of your heart and see how your heart beating and pumping blood.

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM) measures your blood pressure for a period of 24 hours while your move around and living your normal daily life.

Holter Monitoring

Holter monitoring measures your heart rate and rhythm for 24 / 48 hours.

Feeling faint and lightheaded? Lets’ learn about tilt table test!

If you feel often feel faint or lightheaded, your doctor may use a tilt-table test to find out why.

During the test, the patient lies on a table that will be tilted upward slowly. The test measures how the patient’s blood pressure and heart rate respond to the force of gravity. A technologist keeps track of patient’s blood pressure and heart rate (pulse) to see how they change during the test. The test evaluates rapid and short-term changes in hemodynamics (blood flow) by simulating the change with force of gravity, and the attending physician / technologist continuously monitor the patient’s blood pressure and heart rate during the test to assess conditions of unexplained syncope / fall.

SJMC’s tilt table test is carried out at the Diagnostic Service department, 5th Floor, OPC.

The tilt table test is used for the following purposes:

1. To find out why people feel faint or lightheaded or completely passed out
2. To see if fainting is due to abnormal control of heart rate or blood pressure. A very slow heart rate (bradycardia) can cause fainting.

The test is carried out by having the patient lie on a special table which can be raised so that the patient is tilted with head-up at 70° while a physician / technologist monitors patient’s blood pressure, heart rate An IV line may be inserted to give medicine or draw blood.

Physician use this test to reproduce what happens when a person has neutrally mediated or orthostatic hypotension (postural hypotension) syncope in the lab where we monitor his or her physiology to help us confirm the diagnosis and plan the right treatment.

Electroencephalogram

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is one of the main test for epilepsy by detecting electrical activity of your brain.

Nerve Conduction Study

Nerve conduction study (NCS) is a diagnostic test used to evaluate electrical conduction ability of the motor and sensory nerve in your body.

Uroflowmetry

Uroflowmetry records the rate of urine flow to check whether the flow of your urine is blocked.

Spirometry

Spirometry is used to assess your lung function to diagnose asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other conditions that affect breathing.

H. Pylori Test (Urea Breath Test)

UBT is used to detect Helicobacter pylori, a type of bacteria that infects your stomach and is the main cause of stomach ulcers a risk factor in developing stomach and colon cancer.

Pure tone audiometry/Play audiometry

Assess person’s hearing ability in adult and children. Symptoms for hearing loss: -hear people mumble -speech delayed in children -need to increase TV volume.

OAE (Otoacoustic Emission) & AABR (Automated Auditory Brainstem Responses)

Hearing screening for infants.

Tinnitus assessment & management

To assess people who having additional sounds in the ear i.e: ringing/buzzing/humming sounds.

Hearing aid assessment

Hearing aid was prescribed for hearing impaired people to increased quality of person’s life.

Partial Sleep Study: Helping patients with sleep problems

To diagnose sleep apnea, physician uses polysomnography (PSG), a multi-parametric test that measures various physiological process when we sleep.

At SJMC Diagnostic services, our sleep lab offers a few types of sleep study: Full polysomnography (Type 1, attended PSG) and Partial sleep study (Type 3, Home Sleep Apnea Test).

Full PSG is the gold standard test for diagnosing various sleep disorder including sleep apnea. It is done in-lab with sleep tech attending the test throughout the night, with multi parameters being monitored during the test such as brain activity (EEG), ECG, eyes movement, breathing pattern and effort, limb movement, blood oxygen saturation, snoring and etc.

On the other hand, home sleep apnea test is used to investigate obstructive sleep apnea. It’s portability and light-weighted device allow the test can be conducted at home where you can sleep comfortably. This test focus on the respiration function only and involve less electrodes and wires

Comparison Table of Full and Partial Sleep Study:

Once sleep apnea is diagnosed, therapy can be given to help the patient improve their condition. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the leading therapy for sleep apnea. Patients wear a face or nasal mask during sleep. The mask, connected to a pump, provides a positive flow of air into the nasal passages in order to keep the airway open. CPAP benefits include better sleep quality, improve memory and attentiveness during daytime, reduce morning headaches, reduce irritability and enhance performance at work or school.