Cardiology
The term cardiology is a mix of the Greek word “cardia,” which means heart and the Greek suffix “-logia,” which indicates the study of the term it’s applied to. In this sense, cardiology means the science or study of the heart. However, nowadays it’s widely used to describe the specialty of medicine which deals with the diagnoses and treatment of diseases related to heart.
Coronary heart diseases occur when coronaries are occluded or when they shrink.
If shrinkage is too much, myocardial infarction (heart attack) occurs. Partial occlusions lead to diseases such as stable and unstable angina.
Coronary shrinkages and occlusions, prevents necessary amount of oxygen to penetrate the heart muscles. This leads to symptoms such as malfunction, electrocardiogram disorder, and aches in the area. Patients usually experience the ache around the chest. Left arm, neck, and the upper abdomen area also show signs of aching.
Coronary heart diseases require immediate diagnosis and treatment. Otherwise, they may quickly lead to infarctions, serious rhythm disorders, or death.
Cardiology can be divided into two parts; invasive and non-invasive.
Invasive cardiology includes angiography, extension of veins via stenting or balloon pump, and electrophysiological methods which uses catheter to diagnose and treat the diseases which are related to the cardiac system.
Non-invasive cardiology includes medical examination, risk evaluation, and labs test evaluations in premorbid period.
Hypertension, hyperlipidemia disorders (cholesterol, triglyceride, …), diabetes, and smoking addictions fall within a risky area and should be treated.
Chest aches, shortness of breath, quick exhaustion, palpitation, and elevated blood pressure may indicate heart diseases.
Echocardiography (ECG): This method employs ultrasound to examine the heart. Evaluation of cardiac muscle contractions and cardiac valves are scanned via echocardiography.
Effort ECG: Effort ECG is monitored during patient activity. Some heart diseases don’t show symptoms during resting evaluation and only show symptoms while the patient is under physical stress because during activity heart’s work load increases and its demand for oxygen also increase as a result. Effort ECG can also be employed for diagnosed patients to determine the patient’s effort capacity.
Holter ECG: This method monitors the patient’s ECG results for 24 hours nonstop. It is employed to diagnose rhythm disorders. It is also used to diagnose silent ischemia.
Blood pressure monitorization via Holter device: This method monitors the patient’s blood pressure periodically for 24 hours via a portable machine.
Akademi Hospital is equipped to employ all four of the diagnosis methods mentioned above.
Cardiological check-up is advised once a year for ever man over 35 years and woman over 40 years for prevention of heart diseases and early diagnosis. Nowadays, cardiological diseases and disorders prevail among people who are in their early 30s. If any member of your family shows indication for heart diseases in early ages, make sure to seek medical advise. Also, people who have smoking addictions, excess weight problems, high blood pressure and people who are subject to stressful environments also fall within the area of risk.
If you show one or more of the risk factors mentioned above, you can seek medical advise at the Akademi Hospital and benefit from a check-up.
Akademi Hospital offers modern and technological services and has a strong team of specialists working in the field. We aim to offer you a healthy life.
If you want to protect your heart health and live a long and healthy life;
- Don’t smoke.
- Have a blood pressure of 120/80 mmhg.
- Control your body weight.
- Eat healthy to prevent hyperlipidemia disorders.
- Exercise.
