Coronary artery disease Archives

15 Apr

General check up for heart

Introduction: Everyone should get a routine medical check-up for heart health, not just because of some sensational news of some celebrity dying due to a heart attack. Unfortunately, heart disease is prevalent, and is often unpredictable. Heart disease is responsible for the majority of the deaths and disability worldwide. Keeping our hearts healthy and happy […]

30 Mar

Coronary Angiography: Ideas, Concepts, and Expectations

Introduction: Taking a direct look at the heart’s blood vessels (known as coronary arteries) is called ‘Coronary Angiography’ (CAG). Click here for more information on coronary angiography and angioplasty. Your cardiologist may suggest you undergo a CAG if he/she suspects blockages in your heart blood vessels. Such suspicion may arise from routine medical examinations or […]

29 Mar

Understanding Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty

Let us decode the medical verbatim first. Below are a few commonly used terms and their meaning. Cardiac: related to heart Coronary artery: blood vessels that supply blood to the heart Angiography: the process of looking at coronary arteries Angioplasty: the process of fixing a blocked or damaged coronary artery Introduction: Your doctor may recommend […]

28 Mar

Chest Pain: A Nightmare

Introduction: While chest pain is classically associated with a heart attack, there are certain things worth noticing. Not every chest pain is a heart attack, and not every heart attack presents with chest pain. There is always some level of diagnostic uncertainty that doctors take into account before reaching a conclusion. If we leave out […]

27 Mar

Blood Cholesterol: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Introduction: Blood cholesterol is a term often used to describe the circulating fat content in our blood. Circulating fat molecules combine with certain proteins to produce various fat-protein structures, which are labelled based on their size, weight, and role in overall metabolism. A standard blood test, called a “Lipid Profile,” typically lists all the major […]

24 Mar

Why is angioplasty so expensive?

Introduction: The cost of angioplasty had been a concern on numerous occasions and was addressed, in part, by price capping of coronary stents (metal scaffolds put inside blood vessels of the heart to keep the vessels open) in 2017 by NPPA. The overall cost of angioplasty may sometimes exceed that of cardiac bypass surgery and may […]

23 Mar

Stent vs Bypass: Which is better?

Introduction: Narrowing or blockages of the blood vessels of the heart (coronary arteries) are mostly due to cholesterol deposits and can lead to a heart attack if not managed on time. Such narrowing is referred to as Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and is responsible for most lives lost across the globe. While prevention is always […]

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