Heart Disease Health Center

Heart Disease Glossary of Terms

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Occlusion: Blockage.

Off Pump Heart Surgery: Heart surgery done without the use of the cardiopulmonary bypass machine.

Pacemaker: A small electronic device is implanted under the skin and sends electrical impulses to the heart muscle to maintain a suitable heart rate and to prevent slow heart rates.

Palpitation: A fluttering sensation in the chest that is often related to a missed heart beat or rapid heartbeat.

Papillary Muscles: Small muscles that are part of the inside walls of the ventricles and attach to the chordae tendineae.

Patency Rate: The likelihood that a vessel will remain open.

Pericardiocentesis (pericardial tap): An invasive procedure that involves using a needle and catheter to remove fluid from the sac around the heart. The fluid may then be sent to a laboratory for tests to look for signs of infection or cancer.

Pericardium: The sac that surrounds the heart.

Pericarditis: Pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium. The pericardium is the sac around the heart.

Plaque: Deposits of fats, inflammatory cells, proteins, and calcium material along the lining of arteries seen in atherosclerosis. The plaque builds up and narrows the artery

Platelets: Components of blood that aid in clotting.

Positron Emission Tomography(PET or cardiac viability study): An imaging procedure that uses radioactive tracers to create 3-dimensional pictures of the tissues inside of the body and can monitor metabolic processes.

Premature Ventricular Contractions(PVCs): An irregular heartbeat in which the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) beat before they are supposed to.

Prophylaxis: A medication or other treatment delivered to prevent of disease.  One example is antibiotics given before a dental procedure to prevent an infection of the heart.

Pulmonary Edema: An abnormal swelling of tissue in the lungs due to fluid build-up.

Pulmonary Hypertension: Pulmonary hypertension is high blood pressure of the pulmonary arteries.

Pulmonic Valve: The valve through which the blood passes before it enters the pulmonary artery.

Pulse Rate: The number of heartbeats per minute. The resting pulse rate for an average adult is between 50 and 90 beats per minute.

Radial Artery: The radial artery is a blood vessel that carries oxygen-rich blood in the forearm. You can feel the pulse of the radial artery by feeling the inside of the wrist underneath the base of the thumb.

Radionuclide Study (MUGA): See MUGA above.

Regurgitation: Leaking or backward flow.

Restenosis: The closing or narrowing of an artery that was previously opened by a cardiac procedure such as angioplasty.

Rheumatic Fever: Rheumatic fever is caused by a streptococcus infection that can attack and inflame the heart valves, usually the mitral valve.

Rheumatic Heart Disease: Rheumatic fever can lead to a condition known as rheumatic heart disease. This is usually a thickening and stenosis of one or more of the heart valves and often requires surgery to repair or replace the involved valve(s).