Insights by Cardiologists

Heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are mainly caused by a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or brain. The most common reason for this is a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of the blood vessels that supply the heart or brain. Strokes can also be caused by bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain or from blood clots. The cause of heart attacks and strokes are usually the presence of a combination of risk factors, such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidaemia.

Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. Interventional cardiology is a non-surgical option which uses a catheter – a small, flexible tube – to repair damaged or weakened vessels, narrowed arteries, or other affected parts of the heart structure.  A large number of procedures can be performed on the heart by catheterization. The main advantages of using the interventional cardiology or radiology approach are the avoidance of the scars and pain, and long post-operative recovery. Additionally, interventional cardiology procedure of primary angioplasty is now the gold standard of care for an acute myocardial infarction.

Cardiovascular Toxicology deals with the adverse effects on the heart or blood systems which result from exposure to toxic chemicals. It describes safety data of detrimental effects of new cardiovascular drugs. Cardiovascular pharmacology manages the drug of heart illnesses. The Cardiac Drugs are utilized to treat states of the heart or the circulatory or vascular framework. Many classes of cardiovascular operators are accessible to treat the different cardiovascular conditions. Pharmacology of vascular endothelium deals with alterations of endothelial cells and the vasculature play a central role in the pathogenesis of a broad spectrum of the most dreadful of human diseases, as endothelial cells have the key function of participating in the maintenance of patent and functional capillaries.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the most usual type of heart surgery. CABG boosts blood flow to the heart. Surgeons make use of CABG to treat people who have critical coronary heart disease (CHD).  For the heart to work well, blood should flow in only one direction. The heart's valves help to make this possible. Healthy valves open and close in a specific way as the heart pumps blood. Each valve has one set of flaps called leaflets. The leaflets open to allow blood to pass from one heart apartment into another or into the arteries. Then the leaflets close tightly to cease blood from flowing backward. Heart surgery is applied to fix leaflets that do not open as wide as they should. This can happen if they become thick or stiff or join together. As a result, not enough blood flows through the valve. This Heart Congress scientific program has been CME and CPD certified.

Structural heart diseases are structural defects in the heart which may be present from the initial stages of birth, which need to be rectified by surgical interventions. Transcatheter techniques applied for treating non-coronary heart diseases are known as structural heart interventions. New opportunities continue to unfold in the field of treating structural heart interventions. The Present day structural heart intervention training programs include both valvular and non-valvular techniques concentrating on a wide range of adult primary congenital heart defects and complex surgical residual defects infant population. Many cardiologists prefer a new branch of percutaneous treatment which targets congenital and acquired diseases that were not addressed or were treated in another complex manner. Percutaneous structural heart interventions require a multi-axle approach involving cardiac imaging specialists, clinical cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, pediatricians and expert cardiac surgeons. A thorough assessment on patient procure compatibility has to be made. Continuous enhancement of knowledge and training in materials and devices to be used individual specific procedures is a prerequisite. The catheterization lab in the hospital must be equipped to perform hybrid procedures.

Heart disease is a killer that strikes women than men and is more deadly. Women of all ages can be affected with Heart disease. For younger women, the combination of smoking boosts and birth control pills, heart disease risks by 20 percent. In women risk increases with age, certain things like sedentary lifestyle and overeating can cause accumulation of plaque which leads to clogged arteries later.

Pharmacology of vascular endothelium deals with modifications of endothelial cells and the vasculature play a crucial part in the pathogenesis of a wide range of the most dreadful of human diseases, as endothelial cells have the vital role of participating in the maintenance of patent and functional capillaries.

Research advances have contributed to improved outcomes across all specialties, but the rate of advancement in cardiology has been exceptional. Concurrently, the population of patients with cardiac conditions continues to grow and greater public awareness has increased patients' expectations of new drugs and devices. Future Cardiology (ISSN 1479-6678) reflects this new era of cardiology and highlights the new molecular approach to advancing cardiovascular therapy. Coverage will also reflect the major technological advances in bioengineering in cardiology in terms of advanced and robust devices, miniaturization, imaging, system modelling and information management issues. We also take a new approach to the way information is structured and delivered, so that its value is maximized to the reader. Accessible 'at-a-glance' formats are important in an increasingly time-constrained clinical community.

Topics include the following areas:

Cardiology case reports give an appropriate assemblage for all cardiologists by rendering their important clinical cases of late occurrence. Studying from medical cases provides valuable experience for clinicians, students and paramedical staff -members. Rare medical reports and conditions discovered through the latest methods of examination are reinforced. Furthermore, studying diagnostic methods from medical cases and interpretation of symptoms is significant to train and increase the processes which are being used in the clinical field.

The term "diabetic heart disease" (DHD) means heart disease that occurs in people who have high content of carbohydrate in blood. In comparison with people who don't have diabetes, people who have diabetes; are at a higher risk of heart disease, have additional reasons of heart disease, may develop heart disease at a younger age, may have more severe heart diseases. In Congenital Heart Disease, a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply our heart muscle with blood rich in oxygen. Plaque constitutes of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and various other substances found in the blood. When plaque happens in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis. This Heart Congress scientific program has been CME and CPD certified.

The future holds dramatic advances that will transform the cardiac surgeon, in part, into an intervention list with new skills in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to structural heart disease. The cardiovascular surgery has achieved great progress both on scale and technology though development over the past thirty years. However, the technical predominance of cardiovascular surgery in therapies for some diseases has been weakened, along with developments of new drugs and interventional technology. Currently, cardiovascular surgeons should practice the "patient first" principle, carry out individual customized treatment and precision therapy, absorb the advantages of other subjects like intervention and imaging in order to achieve technological breakthroughs, create new treatment technologies and models with smaller trauma and better outcome, establish heart team to provide patient oriented treatment. Besides, cardiovascular surgeons should improve knowledge system by learning related technology and science, become hybrid doctors of research. Cardiovascular surgeons should pay high attention to critical effect of research on the disciplinary development, change the medical practice by virtue of research achievements, direct the treatment for cardiovascular diseases, and finally provide better health service and rebuild the predominance of cardiovascular surgery.

Electrocardiography (ECG) is the method of recordance of the electrical activity of the heart over a time period using electrodes placed on the skin. These electrodes help in the detection of the minute electrical changes on the skin that arise from the electrophysiologic pattern of heart muscle while depolarizing during each heartbeat. This record called the electrocardiogram (also known as an ECG), gives information about the part of the heart that triggers each heartbeat (the pacemaker called the sino-atrial node), the nerve conduction pathways of the heart, and the heart rate and rhythm . Usually, an ECG is obtained if a heart disorder is suspected. This Heart Congress scientific program has been CME and CPD certified.

Cardiovascular Research is to learn the basic, translational, and clinical research of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases, including Heart Rhythm and Arrhythmias, HIV and Heart Disease, Imaging, Interventional Cardiology, Myocardial Biology/Heart Failure, Preventive Cardiology, Women and Heart Disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke, aneurysms, and vascular auto-immune diseases are the most common cause of death and disability in the United States, and account for approximately 30% of deaths and health care costs annually in this country and developed societies. The mission of Cardiovascular Research is to support interdisciplinary research in basic, translational and clinical cardiovascular sciences, including cardiovascular development, function, pathophysiology, pharmacology, genetics, genomics, and proteomics, and to apply this knowledge to better understand the causes of cardiovascular diseases and to pioneer development of new innovative therapies and approaches to prevent or treat them.

Advanced cardiac imaging, using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and multi detector computed tomography (CT), is increasingly used in the work-up of athletes with suspected abnormalities on screening. Both imaging modalities produce highly accurate and reproducible structural and functional cardiac information. Cardiac MRI has the advantage of imaging without radiation exposure or the use of iodine-containing contrast agents, but is sometimes not possible due to claustrophobia or other contraindications. Although cardiac MRI can rule out coronary artery anomalies, multi detector CT is superior to cardiac MRI for visualizing the full extent of the coronary arteries and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. Echocardiography remains the most advanced tool for noninvasive cardiac imaging because of its applicability for most cardiac disorders and its exquisite spatial resolution.

The Vascular Biology exists as a wide-ranging discipline that includes study of vascular function, structure, growth as well as development.  This field comprises investigation at essentially all levels, including studies of molecules, cells, organs also intact organisms.  Perturbations of vascular function be there involved in various pathophysiological states, with neoplasia, inflammation, aging, neurological diseases, metabolic disorders pulmonary diseases also hypertension.

The diagnostic tests are used for identifying the heart function & heart conditions associated with healthy vs. unhealthy individuals in cardiology. Cardiac stress testing is used to assess the cardiac function and also to disclose the evidence of cardiac hypoxia. In the areas of perfusion abnormalities, thallium 0r technetium can be used through Radionuclide test.

With a maximal stress test, the level of exercise gets increases until the person's heart rate will not increase highly. Coronary catheterization, echocardiogram, intravascular ultrasound, and the coronary calcium scan are given as the cardiac imaging techniques which can be used in cardiac diagnosis.