Heart Disease Specialist

What are some causes of heart disease?

Heart disease is not a single medical malady, but a group of conditions including coronary heart disease, congenital heart defects, arrhythmias, and blood vessel diseases. Conditions that affect your heart valves, rhythm, or muscles are also considered heart disease.

Some people are born with congenital heart defects. Other cases develop from the same suboptimal health choices and conditions that cause many other types of illness.

Smoking, drug abuse, or excessive alcohol consumption are known to cause heart disease. These activities all place an enormous toll on your body, which is poorly equipped to handle foreign substances.

High blood pressure and diabetes also increase your risk of heart disease. Even high levels of stress can play a causal role.

Of course, your diet is one of the most influential forces in your overall health, for better or worse. Eating a diet filled with highly processed, fatty, or nutritionally void foods raises your risk of heart disease, as does obesity.

What are the risks associated with heart disease?

Heart disease places an enormous strain on your body and can lead to numerous complications. Preventing or treating heart disease can make a world of difference in the quality of your daily life.

Complications of heart disease include:

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Aneurysm
• Stroke
• Peripheral artery disease
• Sudden cardiac arrest

Any of these complications can be life-threatening. Routine wellness exams can help catch heart disease in the early stages when treatment is most effective.

How is heart disease diagnosed?

At HealthStone Primary Care Partners, several diagnostic tools are used to screen for heart disease. These include a nuclear stress test, electrocardiogram, and echocardiogram.

Nuclear stress test

This test uses a small amount of radioactive dye that’s placed into your bloodstream. When the dye reaches your heart, the technician takes a set of images while you are in a resting position.

Next, you complete exercises on a treadmill or stationary bike before the second round of dye and imaging. The results offer information on your heart tissue condition.

Electrocardiogram

This test uses a series of electrodes to record the flow of electrical impulses directed at your heart. Your doctor may want to gather a “resting” EKG reading and a reading as you exercise. Your results are archived and used as benchmarks against future testing.

Echocardiogram

This is a noninvasive diagnostic tool that uses ultrasound waves to obtain images of your heart’s structure. The detailed images also offer insight into how your heart is functioning.

To learn more, or to schedule a heart disease screening, reach out to the team at HealthStone Primary Care Partners by calling the office today. Alternatively, you can request an appointment online.