Cardiac Care

Heart disease, sometimes called cardiovascular disease, refers to a range of conditions that affect how the heart functions. Different forms of cardiovascular disease might change how the heart’s valves regulate blood flow, how often and how strongly the heart muscle squeezes, how arteries supply blood to the heart or the rhythm of the heartbeat. Disturbances to the heart’s rhythm, known as cardiac arrhythmias, are the most common causes of cardiac arrest.

This occurs when the heart cannot adequately pump blood throughout the body due to damage to the heart’s muscle. At first, the heart compensates for the damage by beating faster, building up more muscle, or stretching to accommodate more blood. However, congestive heart failure symptoms become worse over time, especially without treatment. There are four congestive heart failure stages. In stage I, people do not yet have heart dysfunction, but are at a high risk of developing heart failure because of related conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. Stage IV heart failure life expectancy is about a year, but it can vary from person to person. End-stage heart failure symptoms are severe and sometimes require advanced specialized treatment.

A major cardiac event that requires medical intervention and sometimes heart surgery, a heart attack occurs when the coronary arteries narrow so much that they cut off blood supply to the heart. This is often caused by cholesterol buildup, which can break off and block the blood vessel, depriving the heart cells of oxygen. Heart attack symptoms can be different for men and women. Heart attack symptoms in men include nausea, indigestion, heartburn, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, cold sweat, fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness, and sensation of pressure, tightness, squeezing or aching in the chest and arm. Heart attack symptoms in women are an uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain in the center of the chest, pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach and shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.

Caused by a blocked artery or the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain, stroke symptoms include numbness on one side of the body, confusion, trouble speaking and loss of balance or coordination. Strokes are a medical emergency and require immediate care at an emergency facility.

Often confused with a heart attack, cardiac arrest is actually a different type of serious cardiac event, in which the heart suddenly stops beating, usually because of an electrical disturbance or cardiac arrhythmia.

Cardiac telemetry allows healthcare professionals to monitor a patient’s vital signs, including heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen levels, from a distance.   It also allows patients to move more freely than bedside monitoring. The device includes 5 electrodes placed on the chest, connected with wires to a portable transmitter that sends information to a telemetry lab. There, hospital staff can monitor the heart’s activity and intervene if anything irregular appears. Alarms can also be set to alert staff to sudden or serious changes. 

Ventricular assist devices, or VADs, help people with advanced-stage heart failure who have failed conventional therapy. VADs are implanted surgically and support or replace the function of the failing heart by pumping blood to other parts of the body. VADs are commonly used to treat patients who are waiting for a heart transplant, or those with end-stage heart failure who are ineligible for heart transplant.