Heart Attack – Canada's Medical Radiation Technologists

MRT Roles and
Heart Attack Patients

Patients encounter many different types of healthcare professionals on
their journeys. It can be difficult to keep track of all the people
involved in your care. Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs)
are highly educated professionals involved in the care of millions of
Canadians each year through medical imaging and radiation therapy. If
you have had a heart attack, MRTs were a vital partner in your care who
showed up at multiple points along your journey, including diagnosis,
investigation, treatment and follow up. We want to show you all the
different times and ways MRTs care for patients who are having a heart
attack.

Patient is getting contrast-enhanced ECG-gated coronary computed tomography

Gathering Information to Guide Your Optimal Care

A heart attack is usually identified because a patient is experiencing chest, arm or jaw pain or shortness of breath. Once you arrive at the hospital or clinic, your care will begin with a chest X Ray performed by an MRT specializing in radiologic technology. The MRT will take a chest x-ray that gives an overall look at your heart, lungs and the blood vessels around your heart.

After the initial x-ray, there may be more imaging you have to undergo. MRTs in different imaging specialties will be with you along your journey to help get the best images possible, identifying the problem and guide your care. You may have:

CT scan: an MRT specializing in CT Imaging will do a CT scan of your chest that looks at the main blood vessels around your heart and lungs.
Cardiac CT: an MRT specializing in CT Imaging will take a more detailed look at the blood vessels that supply your heart muscle to see if there are any narrowing of blood vessels or blockages.
Stress Test: an MRT specializing in Nuclear Medicine will be taking images of your heart while it is “under stress”. Your increased heart rate will increase the blood flow to your heart showing how the blood is flowing in your heart muscle.
Cardiac MRI: an MRT specializing in magnetic resonance imaging takes images to look at the heart valves, the musculature of the heart, the ability for blood to flow in the major vessels around your heart.

Interventional cardiology. Male surgeon doctor at operation

Getting Your Treatment

If there is a narrowing or partial blockage in one of the vessels to your heart, you will have a cardiac angiogram. An MRT specializing in interventional radiology will assist the physician to image the map of vessels in the heart in real time. Once they see the affected vessel, they will perform a cardiac angioplasty. The MRT is right there with you, assisting the specialist by taking the images needed to guide the stents to the right location and open the affected blood vessels.

Recovering from your Heart Attack

After your cardiac angioplasty, you may have recurring follow up MRI scans, performed by an MRT, to assess how your heart is recovering and to look at the repair of blood flow to the affected heart muscle.

As you can see, Medical Radiation Technologists are caring for you at so many steps along your journey.

They are the vital link that delivers you better care because of the information and treatment they provide.

MRT Disciplines

Examples of MRT Care