In complete heart block the top and bottom of the heart stop communicating, and a backup rhythm takes over. It is serious, and it is also among the most fixable problems in cardiology.
Left ventricular hypertrophy, or LVH, is commonly seen on ECG reports and often means less than it sounds. The tracing measures electrical signals, not muscle thickness. Here is what the finding describes and what usually settles it.
A patent foramen ovale, a small opening in the heart present in around one in four adults, can sound alarming when first mentioned. For most people it is entirely harmless and needs no treatment. Here is when it matters, and when it doesn't.
A right bundle branch block on your ECG may sound alarming, but in a healthy person, it is common and usually harmless. Here is what RBBB actually means, why it happens, and the smaller number of situations where it genuinely matters.
Most towns do not have a catheter laboratory. When someone has a heart attack there, a clot-dissolving drug goes in first and the journey comes second. Here is why that order is the right one.
SCAD is a heart attack caused by a tear in the artery wall, not cholesterol. It mostly affects healthy women in their 40s and 50s, and the recovery outlook for most people is genuinely positive.
CoQ10 is a widely used supplement, especially among people on statins, but the evidence is more mixed than the marketing suggests. Here is what it can and can't do, who might benefit, and the interactions that matter if you are on a blood thinner.
The echocardiogram is cardiology's most comprehensive non-invasive imaging test. Here is what it reveals about your heart and what to expect from the procedure.
A simple, non-invasive CT scan that detects calcified plaque in the arteries years before symptoms appear. If you or someone you know has been referred for a calcium score, this guide explains exactly what it measures, what your result means, and what to do next.
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By Professor Peter Barlis, Interventional Cardiologist and Founding Editor, Heart Matters. Published by Wiley.
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