Thursday, September 24, 2009

What does a Cardiologist do..?





A cardiologist is a doctor who is specialized in treating the heart and associated cardiovascular system. Cardiologists do a wide range of tasks on a daily basis, from using medical imaging studies to diagnose a heart condition to working with a cardiac surgeon to establish a treatment plan for a patient. This medical specialty also has several subspecialties, for doctors who want to focus on a specific aspect of medical care for the heart.
Typically, for becoming a cardiologist, a doctor must complete medical school and a residency in internal medicine before getting a fellowship in cardiology. A cardiology fellowship generally lasts around three years. It includes training in using diagnostic tools, talking with patients, connecting with other doctors, and using things like pacemakers and medication to treat heart conditions. Once a doctor got the fellowship, then he can apply for certification as a cardiologist before beginning to practice, or he or she can pursue training in a subspecialty.
A cardiologist sees patients because they are referred by other doctors who have concerns about their heart care and health. When a cardiologist meets a new patient, the patient is totally questioned and the doctor will run some diagnostic tests to get more information about the patient's condition or the problem that affected to the heart.
Tools or tests that are using by a Cardiologist are stress testing, cardiac catheterization, radiology studies, and a variety of other techniques to diagnose heart conditions. Various treatments including medication and lifestyle changes can be used to treat diagnosed conditions. If a cardiologist decides that a condition needs to be treated surgically, he or she will bring a cardiothoracic surgeon onto the patient's team to discuss surgical options. Typically, after a surgery is completed, a cardiologist performs follow-up care to ensure that the surgery went well and that the patient stays as healthy as possible.
If a cardiologist chooses to do so, he or she can specialize in things like interventional cardiology, nuclear cardiology, electrophysiology, or echocardiography. These advanced techniques in the field of cardiology is normally using for providing additional diagnostic studies for a patient with a heart condition, and to treat heart conditions with innovative technology.
In the course of a day's work, a cardiologist will meet and interact with a wide range of patients, from young adults with congenital heart defects to geriatric patients with cardiovascular disease. Heart diseases mainly Heart attack is a leading killer in many developed countries, so a cardiologist will be always busy with his work.
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Cardiology

Cardiology is a branch of Medical science dealing with disorders of the heart and circulatory system. The field includes tests and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heartdisease and electrophysiology. Physicians or doctors specializing in this field of medicine are called cardiologists. Cardiologists should not be confused with cardiac surgeons, cardiothoracic, and cardiovascular who are surgeons who perform cardiac surgery - operative procedures on the heart and great vessels.


Basic physiology
ð Systole
ð Diastole
ð Heart sounds
ð Preload

Electrical system of Heart
ð Sinoatrial node
ð Atrioventricular node
ð Bundle of His
ð Purkinje fibers

Heart Diseases
It is mainly of nine types, they are
ð Disorders of the coronary circulation (eg:Atherosclerosis, Restenosis)
ð Sudden cardiac death
ð Disorders of myocardium (eg:Cardiomyopathy, Congestive heart failure)
ð Disorders of pericardium (eg:Pericarditis, Pericardial tamponade)
ð Disorders of heart valves (eg:Aortic valve disorders, Mitral valve disorders)
ð Disorders of the electrical system of the heart (eg:Tachycardia, Cardiac arrhythmias)
ð Inflammation and infection of the heart (eg:Endocarditis, Myocarditis)
ð Congenital heart disease (eg:Atrial septal defect, Ventricular septal defect)
ð Vascular diseases (eg: Vasculitis, Atherosclerosis)

Devices used in cardiology
ð Stethoscope
ð Pacemaker
ð Defibrillator

Diagnostic tests and procedures
ð Blood tests
ð Echocardiogram
ð Cardio vascular magnetic resonance
ð Cardiac stress test
ð Auscultation (Listening with the Stethoscope)
ð Electrocardiogram (ECG & EKG)
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