HTA Details
Preoperative Cardiac Stress Tests for Noncardiac Surgery
- Publication date
-
2014-March-01
- Status
- Final
- Topic Area
- Cardiac Cardiovascular
- Recommendation
-
Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee Recommendations:
- The Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee does not recommend the routine use of noninvasive cardiac stress tests for preoperative screening purposes prior to noncardiac, intermediate-risk, elective surgery.
- The Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee recommends that the selective use of these tests be guided based on patients' clinical risk factors for perioperative cardiac complications, as well as whether information from the test would inform clinical decision-making.
- Ministry Response
-
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has accepted this recommendation.
-
To read the full OHTAC Recommendation Report for this topic, contact our Health Innovation team using the contact form to request a digital copy.
Preoperative cardiac assessment (checking the heart) is meant to find patients who might have serious heart problems if they have surgery. In fiscal year 2011/12, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences found about 7,500 preoperative assessments of cardiac risk had been performed through cardiac stress tests in Ontario.
Noninvasive (without putting tools into the body) cardiac stress tests (checking the heart for problems that might appear when the patient is not relaxed) are often used to find serious heart problems that might appear during surgery. Three types of tests are used: stress echocardiography, radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging, and exercise/treadmill test. These tests are not invasive and can allow surgeons to postpone surgery for a better time or to prepare for any problems that might develop.
Supporting Documents
Last Updated: February 24, 2026
