About Valvular Heart Disease



New Valvular Heart Disease Articles from http://www.healthy-heart-books.com about Valvular Heart Disease, and Women and Heart Disease.

Biopsy of the Heart Muscle We use a heart muscle biopsy (endomyocardial biopsy)when we suspect myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), or when we need more direct evidence about the condition or status of the heart muscle than indirect testing offers. Though some physicians dont do biopsies, because they believe the risk outweighs the reward or feel the yield is low, Ive found that biopsies are very useful in certain situations, yielding information that would be difficult to find without direct access to the heart muscle.


 

Valvular Heart Disease

If, however, heart failure is treated at an early stage, the damage can be postponed and limited. 4. Indicators of heart disease are pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, fainting, light-headedness, swelling in the feet, ankles, abdomen and legs, fever, lack of appetite, sweating and nausea. Another gradation of the heart muscle function is an ejection fraction scale of 0% to 50% (0% being the worst). Men are affected about four times as frequently as women; before the age of 40 the ratio is eight to one. Atrial fibrillation, in which the atria contract in a rapid, uncoordinated manner, may reduce the pumping efficiency of the heart. They are called semilunar valves because they each consist of three half-moon-shaped flaps of tissue. Nevertheless, the following motto, which i recently shared with the audience at a lecture on geriatric heart failure, is useful: the cure for heart failure in the elderly is prevention of cardiovascular disease in the young. As pressure rises in the arteries, the semilunar valves snap shut to prevent blood from flowing back into the ventricles.



Congestive Heart Disease | Congestive Heart Failure | Valvular Heart Disease



Valvular Heart Disease