Understanding Heart Disease - Treatment

How Do I Know If I Have Heart Disease?

In diagnosing heart disease, a doctor first asks a patient for a description of symptoms. The patient's general physical condition is assessed through a standard medical examination and history taking. Listening to the heart for swishing or whooshing sounds, collectively known as heart murmurs, may provide important clues about heart trouble. If heart disease is suspected, further tests are done to find out what is actually happening inside the heart.

An electrocardiogram, or ECG, is usually the first test to be performed. By recording electrical activity within the heart, the ECG quickly reveals any electrical abnormalities in the heart that may be a source of trouble or may indicate that the heart muscle has been or is being injured by ischemia (lack of oxygen-rich blood). Further details can be garnered by taking images the heart using X-rays, a variety of scans, or angiography, a special technique that allows for X-rays of blood vessels. Echocardiograms can also determine how well the heart and valves are working.

Other tests may include stress testing, cardiac catheterization to evaluate the heart's blood vessels, CT scan (ultrafast CT), or sophisticated testing for arrhythmias (such as electrophysiology testing or EP testing).

What Are the Treatments?

Conventional medical care is essential once heart disease begins to produce noticeable symptoms. Its aim is to stabilize the condition immediately, to control symptoms over the long term and to provide a cure when possible. Stress reduction and lifestyle changes are important components for managing heart disease.

Though appropriate changes to diet and lifestyle are always recommended, the mainstays of conventional care are drugs and surgery.

Lifestyle

If you smoke, quit. You should also get in the habit of exercising, since exercise strengthens the heart and blood vessels, reduces stress, and has been shown to reduce blood pressure while also boosting HDL cholesterol levels. Numerous studies done in recent decades indicate that drinking alcohol in moderation may actually reduce the risk of heart disease. But more than one drink a day, and a few drinks per week, is not recommended.

Nutrition and Diet

Even modest changes in diet and lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. Being overweight, especially abdominal obesity, can lead to hypertension and diabetes. If you are 20% or more over the ideal weight for your age, height and sex, you put a strain on your heart's ability to pump blood efficiently. Most people now know that eating foods low in cholesterol, saturated fat and salt will help keep blood pressure low and decrease the formation of plaques -- calcified fatty deposits -- in blood vessels.

Specific treatments for:

Coronary Artery Disease:

Drug treatments may include daily aspirin, drugs called ACE inhibitors (such as Altace or Vasotec) and beta-blockers (such as Toprol). Treatments may also target high blood pressure and high cholesterol -- two major risk factors for coronary disease. In addition, your doctor may recommend surgical treatments such as balloon angioplasty (usually using a metal stent to prop open the vessels) or open heart surgery to repair blocked heart arteries.