Healthy Heart

How Can You Prepare for Heart Surgery?

Doctors do successful heart surgery every day, but it’s normal to be concerned if you’re scheduled for the operation. Knowing what to expect will ease your worries. What should I do before my operation? You’ll probably be admitted to the hospital the afternoon before your operation. The staff will do some tests, give you instructions and prepare you for surgery.

What Are the Warning Signs of Heart Attack?

Heart and blood vessel disease is our nation’s No. 1 killer. About half of the deaths from heart and blood vessel disease are from coronary heart disease, which includes heart attack. About 325,000 people a year die of coronary attack before they get to a hospital or in the emergency room. But many of those deaths can be prevented by acting fast! Some heart attacks are sudden and intense. But most start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Here are some of the signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:

Too Many Americans Die Alone, in Pain, Attached to Machines

Efforts to prolong people's lives too often merely prolong dying, say researchers, citing findings from the largest clinical study ever conducted in the United States with patients near death. The eight-year study, involving nearly 10,000 seriously ill patients in five leading medical institutions, was reported in the November 22/29, 1995 issue of JAMA (The Journal of The American Medical Association).

Heart Attack!

It's 3 am. You just woke up. There's a heavy feeling in the center of your chest. You're sweating a bit, and you feel as though there's not enough air in the room. You sit up and open the window to let in some more air, and that helps you feel a little better. You feel a bit nauseous, so you think, "indigestion," and you take some Tums. That should help within a few minutes if it's indigestion. The Tums don't help. You notice that there's a strange feeling of discomfort in your left arm and shoulder and an odd pain in the side of your neck.

Make the Home Safer for Young and Old

More children under age 10 die from home accidents than from any single disease. Older Americans are also at a higher risk from home accidents which, each year, kill more than 21,000 and injure 25 million Americans of all ages. However, with a little planning, any home can be made safer for its youngest as well as its oldest residents. Child Safety. Here are a few tips to make your home safer for children. Keep plastic bags and deflated or broken balloons away from young children. Cover unused electric outlets with plastic inserts.

How to Choose (and Get Maximum Mileage From) Your Primary Care Doctor

"When was the last time you had a check-up?" These words can be the last thing most guys want to hear. More often than not, we end up in a doctor's office only because we were forced to, by a cold that wouldn't quit, a stomach pain that became unbearable, or a sore knee that threatened our ski getaway. For some of us, a check-up happens only by ultimatum from one's employer. In fact, it's possible your car gets better care than you do.

Like Your Burgers on the Raw Side? E. Coli May Give You a Raw Deal: Death

If you think you can only get E. coli 0157:H7 (Escherichia coli) from undercooked hamburger meat served in restaurants, think again. The infection, which causes diarrhea (often bloody) and abdominal cramps and sometimes even acute kidney failure resulting from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), has also been traced to home-prepared hamburgers. Roast beef, unpasteurized milk, apple cider, and municipal water have also been shown to carry E. coli. A recent article in the New York Times reported E. coli in salami making people sick, too.

Diet High in Monounsaturated Fatty Acids Protects Against Memory Loss

What you eat now could prevent loss of memory and mental ability later in life. According to a study published in the May 1999 issue of Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology’s scientific journal, a diet high in monounsaturated fatty acids protects against a decline in memory performance and cognitive processing functions often associated with aging.

Find out Which of the Myths about Health are Real and Not!

Here's proof that you should not believe everything you hear about health. Nancy Snyderman, surgeon and editor of NBC News, tells you which are the myths about health that you may cause problems. Here are some stories that you hear every day and find out which ones are true: Myth: Annual Medical Control is Beneficial The Truth: it is! If you go to regular monitoring, as otherwise you discover problems in time. Myth: Storage of Medicines in the Bathroom is the Best Option

Aerobics and Your Heart

Oxygen is necessary to allow chemical transformations in the body. The heart is the muscle that pumps oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body. Aerobic exercise increases lung capacity (intake of oxygen) and strengthens the heart muscle (more effective pumping of oxygen), helping the body to clean more effectively and rapidly and helping reducing risks of heart diseases. Aerobics can also increase your body level of HDL, a substance that carries cholesterol out of the blood system.

Complications of A Heart Attack

A person who has a heart attack may experience any of these complications: myocardial rupture, blood clots, irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias), heart failure or shock, or pericarditis. Myocardial Rupture

The Management of Patients with Valvular Heart Disease

Valvular heart disease affects a large number of patients who require diagnostic procedures and decisions regarding their long-term management. Unlike many other forms of cardiovascular disease, there is a scarcity of large-scale multicenter trials addressing the diagnosis and treatment of patients with valvular heart disease. Recently, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have jointly published new guidelines for the management of patients with Valvular Heart Disease. This review is based primarily on these guidelines.

Take Heart, Help is at Hand

Three-year-old Shannen Chang slept through the night for the first time, after an operation to mend the hole in her heart. Her mother Henny was overjoyed and relieved to see her daughter recovering so well from the operation. Said Henny, "Her sleep pattern had improved tremendously. Previously she used to wake up twice a night due to discomfort but since the procedure, she sleeps through until morning."

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Kypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a group of heart disorders in which the walls of the ventricles thicken. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may occur as a birth defect. It also may occur in adults with acromegaly, a condition resulting from excessive growth hormone in the blood, or in people who have pheochromocytoma, a tumor that produces adrenaline. People with neurofibromatosis, a hereditary condition, may also develop hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Infective Endocarditis

Tissue made of endothelial cells line the inner surface of everybody organ, including the heart. The exquisitely sensitive and complex endothelium in the heart, called the endocardium, smoothes our over large surfaces and pinches up to form and line the heart valves. Normally, the endocardium is resistant to infection. However, if a valve has been injured or damaged, the body sends our platelets and fibrin to heal the scar over the area. Plotelets are blood cells that form clots, a normal part of healing; fibrin is a body protein that helps in the clotting process.

Getting the Most Out of Your Workout

If you already exercise regularly at a moderate or intense level and you have checked with your doctor about any heart problems or other health risks, you can gain maximal cardiovascular benefits by walking 5 to 7 days a week for 30 to 45 minutes at your target heart rate. During exercise, your target heart rate should be between 70% and 85% of your maximum heart rate (in beats per minute). To determine your maximum heart rate subtract your age from 220. Then determine your target heart rate by multiplying your maximum heart rate by 70% (0.70) and then by 85% (0.85).

Exercise and Heart Attack

Regular physical activity has long been regarded as an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Recently, this impression has been reinforced by new scientific evidence linking regular physical activity to a wide array of physical and mental health benefits. It has already been proved that regular physical activity can prevent formation of atheroma (block) inside your coronary artery. Intermittent bouts of physical activity, as short as 8 to 10 minutes, totalling 30 minutes or more on most days provide beneficial health and fitness effects.

Evolution of Drug Coated Coronary Stents : A Major Breakthrough in Managing Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary Artery Stenosis is a common Cardiac problem leading to heart attack. Instead of Coronary Bypass Surgery, Balloon Angioplasty has become a popular treatment modalities. To keep the artery patent after angioplasty, physicians are increasingly using Mesh like metal devices called "sten". These devices help in keeping the artery open and reducing second time coronary narrowing. Modern developments include usage of drugs coated on the stents.

Ischaemic Heart Disease

Angina pectoris is the most common symptom of ischaemic heart disease. It is the consequence of an imbalance between myocardial supply and demand arising either as the result of narrowing of the coronary arteries through atherosclerosis or as the result of coronary artery spasm.

Management of Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, accounting for nearly 1 million of deaths each year in the United States. It is also the second commonest killer in Singapore accounting for nearly 25 per cent of annual mortality.