We discussed aortic aneurysms in last week’s blog and this week we’ll talk about what we do to prevent their rupture. First, we have to know that the aneurysm is there. Widespread screening for aneurysms is not practical, so it is usually the case that they are discovered by chance. For instance, a person may have nausea and abdominal pain and get…
Over the last several weeks, we have been discussing the subject of CHF (congestive heart failure). I discussed the differences between heart failure from systolic dysfunction (problems with the heart contracting/pumping) and problems caused by diastolic dysfunction (problems during the relaxation phase of the cardiac cycle). These are clinical syndromes and are brought on by a variety of conditions, some of which…
We have discussed heart failure and its various treatments over the last few blogs. Last week I delved into a particular class of medications, the so-called SGLT2 inhibitors, which are the newest “kid on the block” in our pharmacologic armamentarium to help patients with CHF. Even more recently, I became aware of a new technology called “cardiac contractility modulation” or CCM.…
Last week I described a patient who had an abnormal stress echocardiogram, but turned out to have no significant blockage in her coronary arteries. This week I’ll tell you about a patient I saw not long ago who had had a normal nuclear stress test (see “Services” section of this website to learn more about this test), but ended up having…
In the last two weeks, I have discussed the two most common valvular problems that we cardiologists see—AS and MR. This week I’ll give a quick overview of the other valvular problems that we can encounter. First of all, the aortic valve can also develop regurgitation. Called “AR,” aortic regurgitation, when severe, can lead to heart enlargement, shortness of breath, chest pain,…
I want to wrap up our discussion of heart attacks by addressing the question in the title. Patients often assume that people who collapse suddenly and need CPR—what we term cardiac arrest—have had a heart attack. But the two entities are not the same thing. While it is true that a person who is having a heart attack can have a cardiac…
A few weeks ago, I devoted a couple blogs to the subject of CHF (congestive heart failure). At the time, I discussed the differences between heart failure from systolic dysfunction (problems with the heart contracting/pumping) and that caused by diastolic dysfunction (problems during the relaxation phase of the cardiac cycle). These are clinical syndromes and are brought on by a variety of…