What Is Hibernating Heart Muscle?
Hibernating myocardium is heart muscle that looks and acts dead, but really isn't. Often, if the hibernating muscle's blood flow can be improved (for instance, with bypass surgery or stenting), it "wakes up" and begins functioning again....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - November 14, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
New Treatment Guidelines for Cholesterol - What They Really Mean
This week, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) finally released their long-awaited revised guidelines on treating cholesterol. In a major departure from guidelines that have been in place for a decade, these new guidelines recommend treating to maximally reduce cardiac risk, and do NOT recommend treating cholesterol to any particular target levels....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - November 11, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
A Post-Heart-Attack Checklist
After you've survived a heart attack, you've got a lot to learn about and a lot to think about. While in the good old days you might have had a week or two of hospitalization to go through all the testing, risk assessment, education, and initiation of therapy necessary to optimize your long-term prognosis, today whatever is going to get done must happen in the first three (or four, if you've got a liberal health plan) days....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - November 8, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Sinus Bradycardia and Sick Sinus Syndrome
Sinus bradycardia is a slow heart rate that results when the heart's sinus node slows the production of the electrical impulses that control the heart rate. There are many potential causes for sinus bradycardia, including the fact that in many cases a slow heart rate is perfectly normal....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - November 4, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Silent Heart Attacks
One in five people who have heart attacks never realize it - they have "silent" heart attacks.
Unfortunately, silent heart attacks are just as serious as the ones that produce severe symptoms, and in some ways are worse in the long run....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - November 1, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Does Daylight Saving Time Cause Heart Attacks?
Now that we're saying goodbye to Daylight Saving Time for another 6 months, perhaps (according to researchers reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine), we'd be better off saying goodbye forever. That's because, they say, there is an association between switching to DST in the spring, and heart attacks....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 28, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Premature Atrial Complexes - PACs
Premature atrial complexes (PACs) are the most common cardiac arrhythmia. They are caused by early (premature) heart beats that are generated from within the heart's atrial chambers. PACs are a particularly commonly cause of palpitations. And in patients with episodes of atrial fibrillation...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 25, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Constrictive Pericarditis
Constrictive pericarditis is a condition in which the pericardial sac loses its normal elasticity, and begins to restrict the heart's ability to fill with blood. Since the filling of the heart is restricted, the amount of blood the heart can pump with each beat is reduced. Symptoms of palpitations, weakness and fatigue, and shortness of breath often occur. If the constriction is severe, liver failure can eventually result....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 21, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Heart Block - How To Tell When A Pacemaker Is Required
Heart block, which is also called atrioventricular block, or "AV block", the heart's electrical impulses are blocked (either partially or completely) as they travel from the atrial chambers of the heart to the ventricular chambers. Depending on the extent of heart block, this condition can be anywhere from completely benign to life-threatening....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 17, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Noise Pollution and Heart Disease
Do people who live and/or work in noisy environments have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease? Evidence is accumulating that they do.
What kind of noise pollution increases the risk, and who should be concerned about it?...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 14, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Lupus and the Heart
Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE), is an autoimmune disorder that affects many of the body's organ systems - including the heart. Lupus can accelerate coronary artery disease, and can produce valvular heart disease, myocarditis, and pericardial disorders. Everyone with lupus needs to be aware of the cardiac manifestations of their disease, because that's the best way to detect cardiac problems early, when they are easier to treat....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 11, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Non-Sustained Ventricular Tachycardia
An episode of ventricular tachycardia that lasts for less than 30 seconds is called non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, or NSVT.
NSVT can be significant for two reasons. First, while often it is not noticeable, it can produce several symptoms including palpitations, lightheadedness, or even loss of consciousness. More importantly, NSVT often indicates that significant underlying heart disease may be present....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 7, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Should You Have An Implantable Defibrillator?
Implantable defibrillators (ICDs) are highly effective at preventing sudden cardiac death from heart arrhythmias. Unfortunately, most of the more than 400,000 Americans who die suddenly each year never learn that their risk is high - and therefore, they never have the opportunity to consider an ICD....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - October 4, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Preventing Stroke In Atrial Fibrillation
The most common, and the most feared, complication of atrial fibrillation is stroke. So if you have atrial fibrillation, you will need to work with your doctor to decide on the best approach to preventing stroke in your own case....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - September 30, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Premature Ventricular Complexes - PVCs
Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are a common variety of cardiac arrhythmia whose chief characteristic is that its significance is often misunderstood by both doctors and their patients. A common cause of palpitations, PVCs do in fact have medical significance - but it may not be what you and your doctor think....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - September 26, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
