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.
Should blood tests be done fasting? Only a few need it, chiefly glucose tests. Here is which heart-related tests require fasting, what counts as a fast, and why cholesterol usually does not.
T wave inversion describes a small wave on the tracing pointing down instead of up. In several of the heart's twelve viewpoints that is completely normal. What matters is which ones, and whether it is new.
Extra-virgin olive oil has more evidence behind it than almost any other food in cardiovascular nutrition. Here is what the research actually shows, and how to make the most of it.
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.
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.
Most cardiac emergencies build gradually. An aortic dissection does not. It arrives at full force in people who felt perfectly well moments earlier, and recognising the pain is what gets you to hospital in time.
Pericarditis is inflammation of the sac around the heart. The pain is sharp, worse lying flat, better sitting forward, and alarming enough to mimic a heart attack. Here is what causes it and what the evidence supports.
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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