Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardiac Surgery

Cardiac surgery, also called heart surgery which involves surgical operations performed on the heart under to correct life-threatening conditions. The surgery can be either open-heart surgery or minimally invasive surgery depending on the condition to be corrected. The purpose of cardiac surgery is to improve the quality of life of the patient and to extend the patient's lifespan.

An arrhythmia is the irregularity with the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat. It means that your heart beats too quickly, too slowly or with an uneven pattern. If the heart beats faster than normal, it is so-called tachycardia. If the heart beats too slowly, it is so-called bradycardia. Another common type of arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation; here an irregular and fast heartbeat occurs. Several factors may affect your heart's rhythm, for example sudden heart attack, congenital heart defects, stress and smoking. Some elements or medications can also cause arrhythmias.

Molecular cardiology mainly targets to apply molecular biology practices for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment and mechanistic investigation of cardiovascular disease is a novel and rapid growing area of cardiovascular medicine. Being an emerging field, it has changed conceptual thinking of disease-etiology, pathophysiology and cardiovascular improvement. It has released a promising path for understanding and regulating cardiovascular disease. Scientists are closer to curing heart diseases that were thought to be incurable 20 years ago with the fast development and application of molecular biology techniques. To endorse the progression of stem cell therapy and gene therapy for heart diseases, obviously there is a necessity for thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases.

High blood pressure is otherwise known as hypertension, is a severe medical condition. When the force of the blood pumping through your arteries is too strong, it generally happens. Heart pushes blood through your arteries to the rest of your body when it beats. Your blood pressure goes up, when the blood pushes harder against the walls of your arteries. In a day your blood pressure may be different at different times. When you first wake up, after you exercise, or when you are under stress, it is usually higher. It is normal having higher blood pressure for short amounts of time. But, when your blood pressure stays high for most of the time, it can cause serious health problems.

Cardiovascular Engineering inspires novel procedures and technological advancements in the basic understanding, treatment and applications of the cardiovascular diseases & diagnosis. Novel Contributions outline new ideas and applications in cardiovascular mechanics, cardiac and vascular imaging, devices and instrumentation, cardiac assistance, cardiology applications and diagnostic methods, vascular grafts and artificial hearts, cardiac electrophysiology techniques, hemodynamic monitoring and measurements, computer modeling and drug delivery systems.

Pediatric Cardiopulmonary disease is a disorder in childhood which involves both the heart and lungs problems. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is the visceral-fat deposit around the heart and is normally increased in obese matters. EAT is related to Cardio Metabolic risk factors and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults, but this relationship is not well known in children. (MI) Myocardial infarction is rare in childhood and adolescence. Children frequently have either an acute inflammatory condition of the coronary arteries diseases or an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery (LCA). Peripheral vascular diseases (PVDs) are basically circulation disorders that affect blood vessels outside of the heart and brain, where blood vessels are narrowed by arteriosclerosis.

Novel experiments are regularly being developed to further the understanding of disease, injury, and congenital (present at birth) or acquired abnormalities of the heart. These experiments in cardiology are approaches of recognizing heart conditions like healthy vs. unhealthy, pathologic heart function.

Heart failure also termed as congestive heart failure, happens when your heart muscle doesn't pump blood as well as it should. Specific circumstances, for example narrowed arteries in the heart or high blood pressure, slowly leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently. Not all circumstances that lead to heart failure can be reversed, but treatments can develop the signs and symptoms of heart failure and help you live longer. Lifestyle changes such as working out, reducing salt in your diet, handling stress and losing weight can improve your quality of life.

Sole manner to prevent heart failure is to control situations causing heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.

A non-surgical process used to treat contracting of the coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease is Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). The procedure uses coronary catheterization to visualise the blood vessels on X-ray imaging, after accessing the blood stream through the femoral or radial artery. Later, an interventional cardiologist can achieve a coronary angioplasty, by using a balloon catheter where a squashed balloon is advanced into the obstructed artery and inflated to release the narrowing; specific devices such as stents can be arranged to keep the blood vessel open. Several other processes can also be achieved.  While coronary artery disease causes heart attack or chest-pain, percutaneous coronary interventions, like angioplasty only, can bring back blood-flow to the heart.

To treat heart disease, implantable devices have been used for years. The 1^st pacemaker was implanted over forty years ago, and implantable defibrillators were 1^st used in the early 1980s. But the last few years have viewed a surge in both the varieties of devices being verified for heart-failure treatment, and in the optimism of experts about their usefulness.

The implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ICD is a microcomputer which is fixed beneath the skin of the upper chest area. It is so small that it can fit in the palm of your hand. It observers the heart rate and provides therapy in the form of small electrical pulses. The (cardiac resynchronization therapy implantable cardioverter defibrillator) used for the treatment of heart failure is a sort of particular ICD. The cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) heart device is not an open-heart method where medication is frequently given to make you sleepy and for being comfortable before surgery. The process is done under local anesthesia.

Cardiovascular Toxicology is the field which primarily targets to the adverse effects on the heart or blood systems that result from exposure to toxic chemicals. It elaborates safety data of detrimental effects of new cardiovascular medicines. Pharmacology of vascular endothelium deals with modifications of endothelial cells and the vasculature play a crucial part in the pathogenesis of a wide range of the most dreadful of human diseases, as endothelial cells have the vital role of participating in the maintenance of patent and functional capillaries.

Mostly, Case Studies in Cardiovascular Medicine, should detail a specific medical case, broadcasting the background of the patient. They should discuss investigations undertaken in order to determine a diagnosis or differentiate between possible diagnoses, and should indicate the type of treatment the patient underwent as a result. In one portion we can determine that Case Study is a beneficial and explanatory part of every physician's medical education.

Open-heart surgery is any kind of surgery where the chest is cut open and surgery is done on the muscles, valves, or arteries of the heart. Coronary artery bypass grafting is common type of heart surgery which is done on adults. During this type of surgery, a healthy artery/ vein is grafted to a blocked coronary artery. This permits the grafted artery to bypass the blocked artery & bring fresh blood to the heart. Open-heart surgery is also termed as traditional heart surgery. Now days many new heart techniques can be performed with only small incisions, not wide openings.

During the minimally invasive heart surgery, heart surgeons are performing surgery by making small incisions in the right-side of the chest, without any cut through the breastbone which is an alternate to open-heart surgery. They operate between the ribs, which may result lesser pain and a quicker recovery for various people. In minimally invasive surgery, the heart surgeon may have a better view of some parts of your heart than in open-heart surgery. Alike to open- heart surgery, some minimally invasive heart surgery techniques might need to stop heart temporarily & diverting blood-flow from your heart using a heart-lung bypass machine. It may be done to treat a variety of heart conditions. This surgery isn't a choice for every individual, but it can offer potential benefits in those for whom it's appropriate. The benefits include:

Less blood loss

Lower risk of infection

Reduced trauma and pain

Shorter time in the hospital, faster recovery and quicker return to normal activities

Smaller, less noticeable scars

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disorder which makes a portion of heart thickened without any cause by this, the heart being less able to pump blood efficiently. Symptoms differ from none to getting tired, shortness of breath, leg swelling, chest pain or fainting. It also includes heart failure, an irregular heartbeat, and sudden cardiac death. HCM is most frequently inherited from a individual's parents. It is mainly due to mutations in certain genes involved with making heart muscle proteins. Additional reasons may involve Friedreich's ataxia, certain medications such as tacrolimus & Fabry disease. It is kind of cardiomyopathy, a group of diseases that mainly affects the heart muscle. Diagnosis mostly involves an electrocardiogram, echocardiogram & stress-testing. Genetic testing may also be done. The treatment is performed by the use of beta-blockers, diuretics or disopyramide. An implantable cardiac-defibrillator may be suggested in those with specific types of irregular heart-beat. Surgery, in the form of a septal myectomy or heart transplant, may be perform in those who do not improve with other measures. With treatment, the risk of death from the disease is less than one percent a year.

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm occurred by fast and irregular beating of the atria. Often it initiates as brief episodes of abnormal beating which become longer and possibly constant over time. Often episodes have no signs; there may be heart-palpitations, lightheadedness, fainting and shortness of breath or chest pain. The disease is related with an increased risk of heart failure, dementia, and stroke. It is a type of supraventricular tachycardia.  

The most common variable risk factors for atrial fibrillation are high blood pressure & valvular heart-disease. Additional heart-related risk factors comprise congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure and cardiomyopathy. In the evolving world valvular heart disease frequently occurs as a result of rheumatic fever. Lung associated risk factors contain COPD, obesity, and sleep apnea. Other factors comprise tobacco smoking, diabetes mellitus, thyrotoxicosis and excess alcohol intake. However, half of cases are not related with any of these risks. A diagnosis is done by feeling the pulse and may be confirmed using an electrocardiogram.

Cardio-oncology is the intersection condition of heart in patients who have been treated for cancer. Heart specialists (Cardiologists) can assess patients for potential risk of evolving heart conditions if the patient is taking specific kind of drugs for cancer or following radiation therapy to the chest. They too help oncologists defend their patients through treatment by thoroughly watching the heart and identifying heart trouble early in treatment.

Andreas Gruentzig is known as the father of interventional cardiology after the development of angioplasty by interventional radiologist Charles Dotter which is mainly deals with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. A large number of procedures can be done on the heart by catheterization where the most frequently includes the insertion of a sheath into the femoral artery and cannulating the heart under X-ray visualization (fluoroscopy). For cannulation, the radial-artery also can be used and this method having numerous advantages which consist of the accessibility of the artery in most patients, the easy control of bleeding even in anticoagulated patients, the enhancement of relief because patients are able to sit and walk immediately following the procedure, and the near absence of clinically significant sequelae in patients with a normal Allen test. In the other side to this methodology include spasm of the artery & pain, inability to use larger-catheters required in various procedures and also more radiation exposure.

Congenital heart disease is an abnormality which is present in the heart by birth. Abnormal development that occurs in the heart and in the circulatory system before birth mainly causes Cardiac abnormalities. Abnormal development can be occurred by several factors, including infection and taking certain drugs by the mother during pregnancy. Some congenital cardiac abnormalities are genetic and may be transmitted as autosomal or sex-linked traits.

In Heart transplant surgery, cardiologists remove a person's diseased heart and replacing with a healthy heart from a deceased donor. Generally heart transplants are done on patients who have end-stage heart failure where the heart is damaged or weak. In this stage, heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. In "End-stage" the condition is so serious that all treatments, other than a heart transplant, have failed. Heart transplants are performed as a lifesaving technique for end-stage heart failure. Because donor hearts are very less, and patients who need heart transplants go through a careful selection process. The patient must be sick enough to need a new heart, yet healthy enough to receive it.

The name Angina pectoris is the medical term for chest pain or uneasiness caused by coronary heart disease.  It happens while the heart muscle doesn't get as much blood as it requires. This generally occurs because one or more of the heart's arteries is narrowed or blocked, also termed as ischemia. Painful pressure, squeezing or pain in the centre of the chest is generally caused by angina.  You can feel the discomfort in your neck, jaw, shoulder, back or arm too. Angina in women can be dissimilar than in men.