We Are Specialists in Cardiovascular Diseases
- Posted on: Jul 15 2019
The human heart is an amazing machine. If you live to be 80 years old, your heart will have beaten around 3,363,840,000 times. But like any machine, the human heart can break down. Usually these issues have more to do with user error than poor machinery, meaning things like eating too much and not exercising enough.
That’s where we come in at Hunterdon Cardiovascular Associates. We diagnose and treat all kinds of cardiovascular diseases. In this month’s blog, let’s just go through some of them with a description of what they are.
- Coronary artery disease— This is the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries. These arteries supply the heart muscle with blood, so when they become blocked the blood flow and corresponding oxygen levels decrease.
- Heart failure— This doesn’t necessarily mean the heart fully fails. Heart failure also encompasses hearts that are no longer able to pump as efficiently as they normally would or should.
- Cardiomyopathy— When a person has cardiomyopathy, their heart muscle becomes thick, stiff, enlarged, or weak, which then potentially leads to heart failure.
- Valvular heart disease— One of the four heart valves becomes narrowed or tight, restricting blood flow. Or it may become regurgitant, meaning the valve doesn’t close tightly and it leaks.
- Cardiac arrythmias— If your heart beats too fast, too slowly, or in irregular patterns, you have an arrythmia.
- Peripheral vascular disease— When your blood vessels that move the blood out to and from your arms and/or legs become narrow or hardened, this is a peripheral vascular disease.
- Hypertension related heart disease— Continued high blood pressure leads to this form of heart disease.
- Carotid artery disease— Plaque builds up in the carotid arteries, which can lead to reduced blood flow to the brain.
- Dyslipidemia— An abnormal level of cholesterol or lipids are circulating through the bloodstream.
- Cardiac disease due to aging, diabetes, or pregnancy— Sometimes heart abnormalities are complicated by certain life conditions, such as pregnancy, and they demand monitoring and management.
That’s a big list. Hopefully you won’t have any of these heart diseases. But if you do, Hunterdon Cardiovasculr Associates should be your first call at (908) 788-1710.
Posted in: Cardiovascular Diseases
