Slidell Memorial Hospital Cardiology Services Heart Health Series: Part 3

Part 3

Heart Disease: a variety of diseases with consistent treatment goals.

In parts one and two of our series on heart health and the cardiology services we offer at Slidell Memorial Hospital, we covered prevention and detection of heart disease. In this third installment, we will cover treatment options and considerations for patients who have heart disease already.

The first thing you need to know about heart disease treatment is that there is more than one kind of "heart disease." While it’s true you most often hear the term used as if it’s one thing, heart disease is a term covering a wide range of conditions. Additionally, not all heart disease is preventable, even for those who consistently follow the recommendations covered in part one of this series.

That said, the treatment goals for every type of heart disease are essentially the same:

· Stabilize the condition, so it doesn’t worsen;

· Control symptoms over the long term;

· Provide a cure when possible.

In addition, while stress-reduction, diet and exercise are critical to managing all forms of heart disease, the mainstays of conventional care, regardless of the specific condition, are drugs and surgery.

Your condition will determine your treatment

Chances are, if you are diagnosed with heart disease, you have one or more of the following conditions:

· Coronary Artery Disease

· Heart Failure

· Heart Arrhythmias

· Heart Valve Disease

· Cardiomyopathy (Heart Muscle Disease)

· Congenital Heart Disease

Coronary Artery Disease

Your cardiologist may recommend drug treatments, including daily aspirin, and drugs such as ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers. Treatments may also target high blood pressure and high cholesterol -- two major risk factors for coronary disease. In addition, your doctor may recommend surgical treatments such as balloon angioplasty (usually using a metal stent to prop open the vessels) or open-heart surgery to bypass blocked heart arteries.

Heart Failure

In the simplest terms, heart failure is what doctors call your hearts inability to pump a sufficient amount of blood to meet your body’s needs. Heart failure can be caused by coronary artery disease, as well as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Your doctor will recommend treatment based what is causing your heart failure, but that treatment will often include drugs to control symptoms, such as diuretics or water pills to flush the body of fluids, beta-blockers to block adrenaline’s action, and ACE inhibitors to help modulate sodium and potassium balance and improve blood pressure levels.Devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are sometimes implanted to improve the heart's function and/or prevent deadly arrhythmias. In very advanced cases,your doctor may recommend a heart transplant.

Heart Arrhythmias

Heart arrhythmia is the same as an irregular heartbeat. This is not the same as an irregular heart rate though, and the two don’t always coincide. Like the other kinds of heart disease, there are different types of arrhythmia, so your doctor will personalize your treatment accordingly. Typical courses include drugs to normalize the heart rate, such as beta-blockers, newer drugs to help convert your rhythm to normal, drugs to prevent blood clots (such as warfarin and dabigatran), and "cardioversion," a treatment that involves sending a strong electrical shock to the heart to convert the heart rhythm back to normal.

Heart Valve Disease

Heart valve disease occurs when valves do not work they way they should. Some heart valve diseases are caused by congenital defects, others by infections, still others by other heart conditions, such as coronary artery disease and heart attack.

In severe cases, patients may require medications to deal with heart failure, or surgery to repair or replace the abnormal valve.

In the fourth and final part of this series, we cover treatment options for the other heart conditions: pericardial disease, cardiomyopathy, and congenital heart disease.

As a 229-bed acute care hospital located in the heart of Slidell, LA, Slidell Memorial Hospital provides access to cardiology services, as well as the latest treatments, technology and expert physicians.