Heart transplant recipient Calvin Ming is a deeply religious and thankful man. It was 14 years ago that he received the heart of a 19-year-old high diver who broke his neck competing.

Every year since then, Mr. Ming has returned to Pittsburgh Presbyterian University Hospital where the transplant was done, to have a check-up. This usually lasts a day or two and includes stress tests. One is carried out with the drug dubutamine. This drug mimics adrenaline, the hormone that is released in the body when you become frightened. You’ll notice that when you are frightened your heart beats faster. Dubutamine makes your heart beat faster.

Mr. Ming readily admits that he doesn’t enjoy having this test. “It speeds the pumping of your heart,” he said. “It tires you out. It makes me feel like my heart is coming out of my chest. I can actually see my chest move when it takes effect,” he said.

The dubutamine stress test is carried out to determine just how strong the heart muscle is. Mr. Ming said his tests normally take about an hour.

“I usually go in about 8 or 9 in the morning and I’m out by noon,” he said. But in that hour his heart is worked so hard that he is completely exhausted and unable to do anything else for the rest of the day.

“After I have that test I have to rest,” he said. “I have to sleep.”

Unlike stress tests that have patients walking or running on a treadmill, in the dubutamine test, Mr. Ming said his heart is monitored while he lies still on a table.