Last week we discussed what a cardiomyopathy is, including the three categories of dilated, hypertrophic and restrictive. We then focused on types of dilated cardiomyopathies, along with some discussion about their treatment. Today I’ll continue our review of cardiomyopathies by focusing on hypertrophic. Whereas a dilated cardiomyopathy is defined by the heart chamber being enlarged, a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is defined by the…
After an early summer hiatus from these weekly blogs, I’ll return this week to the question in the title above, which I get asked about almost daily in my office. The causes of swollen ankles are numerous, but most people’s biggest fear is that they have CHF (congestive heart failure). Indeed, peripheral edema (edema fluid causing swelling of the extremities, usually…
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.…
We have spent a couple blogs discussing heart failure (CHF)—what it is and how we treat it. As time goes on, our armamentarium has expanded. When I started practicing cardiology over 25 years ago, ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors had recently been found to save lives and prevent progression of CHF in patients with systolic heart failure. They became the first “must use”…
In last week’s blog, I talked about sudden death, a quite terrifying term—and it does refer to a scary and sometimes life-ending event. Another cardiac problem that sounds almost as terrifying is heart failure. Does that mean that the heart has stopped working? Or is it about to stop? What else could that mean? While heart failure is not a benign diagnosis, it is…
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 arrest…
We have spent the last couple months discussing “cardiac risk factors”: the main things that increase a person’s risk of developing coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease (abbreviated “CAD” and “CHD,” respectively). We now return to consider that disease entity in greater detail. CAD is the process of plaque accumulating in the coronary (heart) arteries (the blood vessels…
Last week we discussed how healthy dietary choices can improve your health. This week we’ll turn to another area where you can positively impact your well-being. Exercise is crucial to a healthy lifestyle and lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. It has beneficial effects on blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. And there is good evidence that exercise is good for the brain. It is one…
Most of the recent blogs have addressed risk factors for coronary heart disease—things like hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and smoking. We’ve discussed what you can do to lower those tendencies, but we unfortunately don’t have complete control over them. Even the seemingly simple decision to smoke is not so simple once a person has become addicted to nicotine. But there are a couple…
Quick question: What disease kills the most women every year? Strokes? Lung disease? Alzheimer’s? Breast cancer? Lung cancer? Nope, it’s heart disease—in fact, heart disease is more lethal to women than ALL cancers combined. And it kills three times more women each year than either lung disease, stroke or Alzheimer’s. So why do people think of heart disease as a “man’s illness?” There are several answers to…