Neurospine Hospital & Revive Critical Care
CARDIOLOGY
A cardiologist is a physician who’s an expert in the care of your heart and blood vessels. They can treat or help you prevent a number of cardiovascular problems. They can also specialize in specific areas, such as abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, or heart problems you’ve had since birth.
A cardiologist is a doctor who’s an expert in heart and blood vessel diseases. They can treat heart diseases and help keep you from getting heart diseases.
Types of Cardiologists
There are at least a dozen different kinds of cardiologists. Although all cardiologists are experts in understanding your heart and blood vessels, they can narrow down their field of expertise even more. Types of cardiologists include:
- Clinical cardiologist.
- Heart failure specialist.
- Cardio-oncologist.
- Congenital heart specialist.
- Cardiac imaging specialist.
- Preventive cardiologist.
- Cardiac rehabilitation specialist.
- Electrophysiologist.
- Cardio-rheumatologist.
- Sports cardiologist.
- Critical care cardiologist.
Treatment
If the reason for the elevated cardiac enzymes is not a heart attack, a doctor may treat whatever condition is causing the enzyme levels to be elevated. The doctor may also suggest that a person makes healthful lifestyle changes to keep the heart working as well as possible.
If a doctor determines that a heart attack caused the elevated cardiac enzymes levels, the person will require treatment in the hospital with medications or surgery to restore blood flow to the heart.
Doctors may also prescribe the following medications for a person who has had a heart attack:
- drugs that dissolve blood clots, known as thrombolytics
- blood thinners, such as heparin
- antiplatelet agents to keep blood clots from getting bigger
- nitroglycerin
- ACE inhibitors
- pain medications
What diseases do cardiologists treat or help you prevent?
Cardiologists can treat a wide range of heart and vascular problems, including:
- Atherosclerosis.
- High blood pressure.
- High cholesterol.
- Sudden cardiac arrest.
- Heart failure.
- Heart attack.
- Blood clots.
- Endocarditis.
- Cardiogenic shock.
- Heart valve problems.
- Heart abnormalities.
- Cardiomyopathy.
- Myocarditis.
Risks
A person is likely to feel some pain or tenderness around the area of insertion, but this should be temporary. Other risks involve:
- swelling or bleeding at the site of insertion
- infection
- blood vessel or nerve damage
- a collapsed lung
- a reaction to medications