Cardiovascular Diseases
Metabolic syndrome is a condition that includes the presence of a cluster of risk factors specific for cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome greatly raises the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or all three.
Detailed information on abdominal aortic aneurysms, including description of abdominal aortic aneurysm, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and full-color anatomical and procedure illustrations
Carotid artery disease causes a narrowing of the major blood vessels that supply the brain. It is caused by atherosclerosis and can lead to a stroke.
A cerebral aneurysm (also called an intracranial aneurysm or brain aneurysm) is a bulging, weakened area in the wall of an artery in the brain, resulting in an abnormal ballooning of the artery that is at risk for rupturing.
Detailed information on chronic venous insufficiency, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.
Claudication is pain in your thigh, calf, or buttocks that happens when you walk. It may be a symptom of peripheral artery disease (PAD). This is when narrowed or blocked arteries reduce the blood flow to your legs.
Detailed information on deep vein thrombosis and thrombophlebitis, including causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and full-color anatomical illustrations.
Detailed information on the medical management of vascular conditions. Includes a description of the vascular system, risk factors for vascular conditions, causes of vascular conditions, and medical management of risk factors.
Detailed information on vascular conditions, including a description of the vascular system, causes and effects of vascular disease, and a full-color anatomical illustration.
Detailed information on thoracic aortic aneurysms, including description of a thoracic aortic aneurysm, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and full-color anatomical illustrations
Detailed information on varicose veins, including causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and full-color anatomical illustrations
Detailed information on vascular conditions and diseases
Detailed information on obesity, including obesity causes, obesity health effects, obesity medical treatment, obesity surgical treatment, maintaining weight loss, and obesity prevention
Obesity is a serious, chronic disease that can inflict substantial harm to a person’s health. Learn about obesity causes and obesity health effects.
Detailed information on obesity treatment, including obesity medical treatment, obesity surgical treatment, obesity gastric bypass (malabsorptive) surgery, and obesity gastric stapling (restrictive) surgery
Whatever treatment plan a person follows, losing weight slowly will be more effective and healthier over the long-term.
Medical treatment can help with weight loss if your own efforts are unsuccessful—or if you have a medical condition that makes it crucial to lose weight.
Detailed information on obesity surgical treatment, including gastric bypass surgery, and gastric stapling surgery
Gastric restrictive surgery is a type of bariatric surgery or weight loss surgery. It limits the amount of food you can eat. This surgery may be used to treat severe obesity when diet, exercise, and medicine have failed.
Keeping extra weight off needs effort and commitment, just as losing weight does.
The longer a person is obese, the more they are at risk for problems. Many chronic diseases are linked with obesity. And obesity is hard to treat. Because of these reasons, prevention is very important.
Located almost in the center of the chest, the adult human heart is about the size of a fist.
An aneurysm is a bulging, weak area in the wall of a blood vessel. An aneurysm may occur in any blood vessel, but most often develops in an artery rather than a vein.
Angina pectoris--or simply angina--is chest pain or discomfort that keeps coming back. It happens when some part of your heart does not get enough blood and oxygen. Read on for details.
An arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm that can cause problems with the contractions of your heart chambers.
Detailed information and illustrations about the 2 coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle.
Atherosclerosis is a type of thickening or hardening of the arteries caused by a buildup of plaque in the inner lining of an artery. It can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other circulatory conditions.
Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is a kind of abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia. AFib increases the risk for blood clots. These clots can then travel to the brain, causing a stroke . This is why AFib significantly increases the risk for stroke.
Your BMI gives a fairly accurate assessment of how much of your body is composed of fat.
Cardiomyopathy is any disease of the heart muscle in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood effectively.
In cardiac catheterization (often called cardiac cath), a very small hollow tube, or catheter, is advanced from a blood vessel in the groin, arm, or neck through the aorta into the heart. Once it is in place, several diagnostic and treatment procedures can be done using catheterization.
When trying to make heart-healthy changes to your lifestyle and diet, it is helpful to know some basics about nutrition.
When the heart or blood vessels near the heart do not develop normally before birth, it's called a congenital heart defect (CHD). Learn about different types of CHDs, and how to help young teens transition successfully from pediatric care to adult care.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.
A person with coronary heart disease has fatty deposits that have built up in the coronary arteries. These deposits narrow the arteries and can decrease or block the flow of blood to the heart.
Here's a look at just a few of the tests used to understand and identify cardiovascular disease.
The Choose My Plate plan from the federal government is a guideline to help you eat a healthy diet.
Heart valves can malfunction on one of two ways: They can fail to close completely, allowing blood to flow backward, or they can become damaged, limiting blood flow.
Detailed information on the most common cardiovascular diseases, including full-page descriptions detailing the most common types of heart disease, related symptoms, diagnostic, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, ICDs, and treatment information
An echocardiogram is a noninvasive (the skin is not pierced) procedure used to assess the heart's function and structures.
The heart is a pump made of muscle tissue. Its pumping action is controlled by electrical impulses.
An electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the simplest and fastest tests used to evaluate the heart. Electrodes (small, plastic patches that stick to the skin) are placed at certain locations on the chest, arms, and legs. When the electrodes are connected to an ECG machine by lead wires, the electrical activity of the heart is measured, interpreted, and printed out.
It's always important to talk with your healthcare provider before starting an exercise program. This is especially true if you have certain health conditions.
To improve your heart and lung fitness, aim for 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise several times a week.
Lack of physical activity is a risk factor for many health problems. Read on to learn more about these risks, and how to get started being active.
Do cell phones interfere with pacemakers? Do ICDs need to be adjusted? Here are answers to these and other questions.
The cholesterol in your blood comes from the foods you eat and your liver. Your liver makes all of the cholesterol your body needs.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, increases the risk for coronary heart disease (heart attack) and stroke (brain attack). Read on for details about this condition.
Cardiovascular diseases include coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and rheumatic heart disease.
With advances in technology, pacemakers and ICDs generally last several years and, in most cases, allow a person to lead a normal life.
Heart murmurs may be caused by a number of factors or diseases, including defective heart valves, fever, and pregnancy. Read on to learn more about this condition.
The mitral valve sits between the left atrium and left ventricle. It's job is to keep blood flowing in the right direction. Mitral valve prolapse is the bulging of the valve causing blood to leak backwards.
A stroke, or brain attack, happens when blood flow to your brain is stopped. It is an emergency situation.
Detailed information on living with a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator
A pacemaker is a small device implanted under the skin that sends electrical signals to start or regulate a slow heartbeat.
Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium, the thin sac that surrounds the heart. Read on to learn details, such as causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and complications.
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is a slow and progressive circulation disorder caused by narrowing, blockage, or spasms in a blood vessel.
Detailed information on heart disease prevention
These procedures are often used in the evaluation and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Rheumatic heart disease is a condition where the heart valves have been permanently damaged by rheumatic fever.
Cardiac sarcoma is a rare type of cancerous tumor that occurs in the heart.
Detailed information on the most common types cardiovascular diseases, including symptoms, prevention, diagnostic, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, ICDs, and treatment information
Smoking tops the list of risk factors for heart disease. Learn more about how smoking affects your heart--as well as helpful tips to quit smoking.
Tests that may be used to help diagnose a stroke include a CT scan or MRI, and an electroencephalogram.
A helpful guide to understanding stroke rehab programs.
Detailed information on stroke, also called brain attack, including history, statistics, symptoms, types, effects, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitation information
Strokes are classified as either ischemic or hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes are caused by the blockage of an artery. Hemorrhagic strokes are caused by bleeding in the brain.
Detailed anatomical description of the heart valves, including simple definitions and a labeled, full-color illustration.
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is a type of weight-loss surgery. Learn what to expect before, during, and after this procedure.
Renal vascular disease affects the blood flow into and out of the kidneys. It may cause kidney damage, kidney failure, and high blood pressure.
A pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blood clot that develops in a blood vessel in the body (often in the leg). It then travels to a lung artery where it suddenly blocks blood flow.
When an area of the brain is damaged, which typically occurs with a stroke, an impairment may result. An impairment is the loss of normal function of part of the body. Sometimes, an impairment may result in a disability, or inability to perform an activity in a normal way.
Vital signs are useful in detecting or monitoring medical problems. Vital signs can be measured in a medical setting, at home, at the site of a medical emergency, or elsewhere.
An AED is a small, portable, battery-powered machine with a computer in it. The machine detects heart activity. It can give an electric shock to someone if needed.
A cardiologist is a healthcare provider who has had extra training to treat problems of the heart and blood vessels. These include heart attack and heart failure.
A clinical cardiac electrophysiologist, or cardiac EP, is a healthcare provider who treats rhythm problems of the heart. Learn more about their medical training, and the tests and procedures that they do.
Atrial flutter is an abnormal heart rhythm that causes the atria to beat more quickly than they should.
Ventricular fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, that affects your heart's ventricles.
Ventricular tachycardia is a fast, abnormal heart rate that starts in the lower chambers of the heart. It can become life-threatening if it lasts more than a few seconds. Here's what you need to know about this condition.
Sick sinus syndrome (SSS) is a type of abnormal heartbeat, or arrhythmia. If you have SSS, you may have episodes when your heart beats very slowly, stops beating for a short while, or beats very rapidly.
Long QT syndrome can cause life-threatening rapid heart rhythms that can lead to fainting or sudden death.
When you have heart block, there is interference with the electrical signals that usually move from the top chambers of your heart to the bottom chambers, telling your heart when to beat. Read on to learn about causes, symptoms, and treatment.
A look at the physical link between stress and heart health, along with tips to help keep your stress under control.
Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) occurs when a blood clot forms in the brain's venous sinuses. The clot prevents blood from draining out of the brain. As a result, blood cells may break and leak blood into the brain tissues, forming a hemorrhage. This chain of events is part of a stroke that can occur in adults and children of all ages.
Stroke is much more common in adults than children, but children get strokes, too. The good news is that a child has a better ability to recover from stoke than an adult because a child's brain is still developing. Read on to learn more.
Ulcers are open skin sores. Venous ulcers are leg ulcers caused by problems with blood flow in your leg veins.
Brugada syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes an irregular heartbeat. This rare, but life- threatening condition is more common in people of Asian descent.
Buerger disease is one of many types of vasculitis. This is inflammation of small and medium size blood vessels. Buerger disease causes a tightening, or a blockage, of the blood vessels in your feet and hands. When blood doesn’t flow well to your hands and feet, especially during activity, you may have pain and tissue damage.
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) is a type of abnormal heartbeat. If you have WPW, you may have episodes of tachycardia, when your heart beats very rapidly