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Coronary heart disease

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:56:09 +0000

Coronary heart disease also referred to as coronary artery disease is a thinning of the small blood vessels which supply blood and oxygen to the heart. Symptoms of coronary heart disease can often be very blunt, but other times can go unnoticed. These symptoms usually include:

Chest pain or discomfort- This pain normally occurs when the heart is not being supplied with enough oxygen or blood. Ones chest may feel heavy or like it is being pressed. The pain is generally felt beneath the breast bone but can be felt in the neck, arms, stomach, or upper back. The pain persists with activity or emotion but goes away with rest and some medications. Common symptoms are shortness of breath and fatigue with physical activity. If any of these symptoms arise be sure to see a cardiologist to better identify the problem.

Leading Los Angeles cardiologist may suggest that their patient take one or more medicines to treat blood pressure, diabetes and high or low cholesterol levels. These medication and instructions provided by the cardiologist should be followed closely in order to prevent the disease from worsening.

The most common cause of coronary heart disease is called atherosclerosis, which occurs when fatty material and plaque build up on the walls of ones arteries. This causes the thinning of the small blood vessels. Coronary hear disease is the leading cause of death of death in all United States for both men and women.

Increasing risk of heart disease

Men in their forties have an increased risk of having coronary heart disease but as many women hit menopause their chances almost equal that of men in their forties. Coronary heart disease is hereditary. If someone in ones family has or had coronary heart disease before the age of fifty then ones chances of having the disease increase with age. Other common causes include Diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, smoking, chronic kidney disease, alcohol abuse, lack of exercise and excessive stressing.

Coronary heart disease is often diagnosed with CT heart scans however some cardiologist suggest that their patients have a full body scan in order to identify any problems in the body and be able to target them all with medications and treatments. The proper treatment for coronary heart disease can stop death in its tracks by preventing the disease from going any further; however the best medicine is always prevention, so be aware of symptoms and behavior that can lead to coronary heart disease.

Los Angeles cardiology :Cardiology an overview

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:04:50 +0000

Cardiology is the field of medicine that studies the heart and vascular system. The study of cardiology goes as far back as the ancient Egyptians and since then a great deal of advances have been made. Not only has technology improved greatly but there have been many discoveries that save lives everyday. New technology allows cardiologist to perform bypass, hear transplants and even use artificial hearts. Cardiology is a growing field in which requires the need for specialist more everyday. As a specialty cardiology has been around for a little more than fifty years. Cardiology itself does not date back to ancient times but studies of the heart did begin in ancient Egyptian times. The Egyptians made many discoveries about the heart through the process of mummification; however, the first successful heart surgery was made in 1896, the creation of the first artificial heart valve in 1950, and the first human heart transplant in 1967.

Cardiology alone is the specialty area of medicine that handles disorders of the heart and blood vessels. There is such a wide variety of disease and conditions that affect the cardiovascular system that it is critical to be checked by a certified Cardiologist when experiencing any changes or problems in this area. Most people fear going to visit cardiologist for pain and other changes but only if there is a problem can the situation be scary. Testing is usually simple for adults a CT heart scan and for children also a Heart scan with this most cardiologist speedily determine the problem. There are three specialist involved in this field of cardiology according to the patients need and type of situation. Cardiologist work with adults to identify, prevent and treat conditions of the heart and vascular system pediatric cardiologist do the same but for children as young as fetuses and as old as age thirteen. Cardiac surgeons are those trained in the specialty of surgeries on the heart, lungs and blood vessels.

Cardiology is a growing field because our population suffers from obesity, which triggers heart disease and diabetes. Recent studies have shown that almost forty percent of deaths are by cardiovascular disease. A large portion of that death number is from sudden heart attack. Heart attacks can be silent killers and most female patients have no prior signs symptoms of heart attack. While the demand for cardiologist and cardiac surgeons is rapidly increasing the amount of students who are studying in this field is just as rapidly decreasing. Physicians and researches and working together to increase the knowledge of the heart and vascular system to make more great discoveries everyday, but more physicians are required. Cardiology has come a long way and for the moment grave studies are being done to better identify methods to prevent and treat heart conditions many researchers are studying the affects of different diets and exercise on the cardiovascular system. In many places around the world and in Los Angeles cardiology studies have great potential and can unleash many secrets to living a longer and healthier life.

64 Slice CT scan-Heart attack and heart scans

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:35:29 +0000

Most people have no idea they can drop dead any second of a sudden heart attack and they depend on having a heart scan as they become of age for certain things. Truth is we should not wait till we hit a certain age or see symptoms to then have scans. Anyone can have a heart attack at any given moment and have demonstrated completely different symptoms. Women and men generally display completely different symptoms of heart attack, so women are most likely to have a heart condition which goes unnoticed. In some cases a woman can be having a heat attack and have no idea what is wrong until a doctor informs them. We should all be concerned with checking our hearts regularly especially if someone does not live a healthy life style.

A CT heart scan uncovers the exterior of the heart, position, shape and the coronary arteries on the surface of the heart. This image is a picture of the whole heart put together. Cardiologist say heart scans are essential for early heart disease detection. According to heart scan experts with a simple heart scan early detection the possibly of modifying the risk factors the potential for advanced heart disease can be significantly reduced and even reversed. A hear scan takes less pictures than a 64 Slice CT scan but they both have incredible findings. A heart scan is a painless scan which takes about ten minutes. The process is almost the same as taking an x ray of the body. The patient lies on the scanner table multiple images of the heart are taken. The physician then interprets the images of the heart and determines the amount of calcified plaque in the arteries.

Cardiologist say a heart scan is appropriate for men thirty five or older and women forty or older with anyone of the risk factors. Anyone younger than the given ages should also consider having a heart scan. The Risk factors are as follows:

High blood pressure

High Cholesterol

Diabetes

History of tobacco use

Family history of heart disease

Obesity

High stress levels

More than half of patients who have sudden heart attacks never notice symptoms of heart attack because some are very mild. Heart scans make it possible to early detect and prevent heart attack. Because having a heart attack can completely change their quality of life eating healthy, exercising daily, monitoring sodium consumption, quitting bad habits such as smoking, and watching that one is at a healthy weight will all prevent and even reverse set damages to the heart so that one can continue living healthy.

Heart attack symptoms in women

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:49:35 +0000

For most women symptoms of a heart attack are commonly diagnosed, because they disguise as many other common illnesses in which most people usually get over on their own. Studies show that heart attack symptoms in men and women differ, therefore making slightly easier for symptoms to go unnoticed in most women. For most women heart attack symptoms are generally overlooked even in the emergency room. Most women ignore heart attack symptoms themselves because they identify the symptoms as menopause or other signs of aging. Cardiologist say men and women should not take bodily change lightly. There is a reason for everything that occurs in the body and doctors should be asked questions about any sudden change.

If heart attack is in the family history that individual should have annual heart scans and take other prevention precautions. A CT heart scan can help identify early heart disease and ultimately save a life. If early heart disease is detected then a cardiologist will help to identify the foods one should eat and the kind of activity that one can do. Although it is essential to have these test such as heart scans and is some cases even a 64 slice ct scan test done if doctors cannot identify the problem with other ways if one is aware of the symptoms further damage and test can be prevented.

Women survivors of heart attacks share that they experienced a change in their life for up to a month before the heart attack occurred. More than 70% of women experienced sever fatigue. Sever fatigue entails shortness of breath and wheezing after activities that wouldn’t usually tire that person so easy. Over 50% of women noticed a significant change in sleeping pattern. The same positions were no longer comfortable, restlessness throughout the night and short intervals of sleep. Men and women heart attack survivors both report chest pain or pressure. Men reported the chest pain as being intense while women report it as uncomfortable and possibly feeling like a muscle strain because the pain travels to underneath the jaw line at times. 40% of women reported some type of change in skin tone and temperature. Most women say their skin was clammy and occasionally experienced cold sweats.

Most of the women in this heart attack study experienced flu like symptoms. Nausea, vomiting, chills, coughing, aching and sneezing. For a large amount of these symptoms most people don’t think to visit a doctor. Most of these symptoms will persist and that is when an appointment with a doctor or cardiologist should be scheduled if you experience a sudden onset of these please visit a local emergency room. Most of the time the symptoms will be over looked, so cardiologist suggest you ask the doctor attending if it is possible that you’ve had a heart attack?

Heart attack symptoms in women

Maintaining Americans’ Heart Health

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:42:33 +0000

Heart health care is a serious concern for millions of Americans. A CT scan is a very helpful and popular way for cardiologists to diagnose potential or current heart problems. A warm greeting and attention to detail can go a long way towards making the patient feel comfortable in what can be an uncomfortable situation. For this reason, it is very important for doctors and other staff to help a patient to feel more at ease when they visit the cardiologist

CT imaging is one of the best and fastest tools for studying the chest, abdomen and pelvis because it provides detailed, cross-sectional views of all types of tissue. Doctors can confirm the presence of a tumor as long as well as measure its size and precise location. In addition, they can note its proximity to vital organs in the body. Los Angeles cardiologists often perform CT scans, including full body scans because of its quick accurate results. Therefore, southern California residents can return to their day-to-day routine immediately! CT scans are not only beneficial for heart patients, they can diagnose and treat spinal problems and injuries because they can clearly show even very small bones as well as surrounding tissues such as muscle and blood vessels. CT scans have been compared to slicing a loaf of bread into very thin slices. When the image slices are reassembled by the computer software, the result is a very detailed multidimensional view of the body’s interior. The images are real-time so it is also a great tool for guiding minimally invasive procedures of many parts of the body, especially the lungs, abdomen, pelvis and bones.

Cardiologists can now use cardiac CT imaging to perform a non-invasive coronary angiogram. This advanced procedure can create a non-invasive image of the beating heart. It allows you to obtain detailed information about the structure of a patient’s heart and coronary arteries. CT heart scans have been known to save many lives because cardiologists can discover arterial problems to prevent a heart attack or even death! Many hospitals can perform these tests and obtain results within 24 hours.

Maintaining Americans’ Heart Health

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:04:39 +0000

Detecting Heart disease

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:46:33 +0000

If you’ve never thought you were at risk for heart disease think again. 50 percent of men and 64 percent of women who died suddenly from heart disease had no previous symptoms, and every 60 seconds an American dies from a coronary event. This is why it is important to be aware of the symptoms and procedures that can be done to detect heart disease. If you’ve had previous infections, cancers or other health problems and this has made it difficult for doctors to pinpoint the source of your problem you might want to suggest a full body scan which allows a transparent view of the body and may show many different malignancies inside one’s body. Doctors then have a clear picture in order to run tests on what they have found.

Other times there isn’t a need for a full body scan because doctors can clearly see the symptoms you are dealing with, such as shortness of breath, coughing or wheezing, swollen legs, feet and hands, lack of appetite, confusion and lethargy. These area all signs of heart failure and will prompt your cardiologist to perform a CT heart scan so he can have a closer look at your heart and be able to give you a full diagnosis.

Although this CT heart scan works great, Los Angeles cardiologists have enhanced their technology and are now using a 64 slice CT heart scan which works 4 to 64 times faster than the standard CT heart scan. The 64 slice CT scanner improves the precision of diagnosis and takes images faster and clearer than the standard CT scanner. If you are experience any symptoms of heart disease, have family history of heart disease, or simply want more information on the latest technology in CT heart scans, contact your local Los Angeles cardiologists and schedule an appointment today.