FeNO for Asthma

Exhaled Nitric Oxide is a new and simple test to see whether you have asthma and whether your asthma is well controlled. It takes approximately 5 minutes. Results are available immediately. Mercy University Hospital has the same equipment. It is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

NICE NG80 1.3.2/1.3.3/1.14.5 published November 2017

Sleep Apnoea Monitor

Sleep apnoea is much more common than we think. It can cause daytime sleepiness. It is easy to diagnose. You have to wear the monitor one night and drop it back in to us the following day. We do not treat sleep apnoea here in the Clonakilty Diagnostic Clinic.

Ultrasound

We try to offer same day appointments for ultrasound investigations. It is fast, painless and without radiation. The results are available immediately. You do need a referral letter from your own GP - just like you do when you go to Cork for a MRI or ultrasound. You are given a CD-ROM with the images and a report to take back to your doctor. Our equipment is a Siemens Acuson X150 with 3 different probes and the appropriate software for specific calculations, seen here on the right. Please note, here at the Clonakilty Diagnostic Clinic, we do not have the expertise to look for any abnormalities in pregnancy.

Palpitations

Palpitations can feel very frightening. Most are nothing to worry about. Some are more serious. An ECG can help us to decide whether they are okay or not. The BEAM on the left is a ECG event recorder. It fits easily in your pocket. 4 leads are attached to your chest wall. Whenever you feel an episode of palpitations you press a button and it stores the previous 30 seconds as an ECG. Once you have captured 3 or 4 episodes you drop the machine back and one of our doctors will look at them. It might take you 1 or 2 weeks to capture enough episodes.

Vascular Age

As we age, our arteries become stiffer. The stiffness is related to the amount of plaques in the blood vessel walls. The more plaques, the stiffer, and the “older” your arteries. We can measure how elastic your main artery is. It can be used to give a more accurate idea about your individual risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke than blood pressure or cholesterol alone. It is recommended by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Hypertension.

2013 ESH/ESC Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension 3.7.2.2

Pro NT BNP for Heart Failure

Heart failure is hard to diagnose without more specialist tests. Many signs or symptoms are more likely to be related to another cause. There is a blood test available. As it is quite expensive, you need to attend a hospital in Cork or Bantry for a day to access it through the HSE.

We offer it here at the Clonakilty Diagnostic Clinic. The test takes 15 minutes and a result is available immediately.

This test is recommended as the first step in diagnosing heart failure by the
NICE CG108 1.1.1.3 published August 2010; NICE CG187 1.2.2 published October 2014 and 2016 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure 4.3.1