Heart Diseases
Affecting more than 2.2 million Americans, heart arrhythmia is an irregularity in your heartbeat that can feel like your heart is skipping a beat or fluttering. An irregular heartbeat can take many forms and each has a different root cause, including coronary heart disease, changes in the heart muscle and an imbalance in electrolytes in the blood.
The primary cause of vascular disease is hardening of the arteries. The flow of blood becomes restricted as fatty deposits or plaques attach to the lining of the arteries. This restriction or subsequent blockage can lead to vascular disease, including high blood pressure, renal failure, aneurysms or stroke.
Your heart contains four valves that work in coordination to control the flow of blood in your heart. There is a single valve in each half of the heart – the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve – as well as the aortic and pulmonic valves that receive and send blood through your blood vessels. If left untreated, valve disease can affect your quality of life or even become life threatening. Between the years 2004 and 2006, the surgeons of The Florida Cardiovascular Institute repaired and replaced more than 1,500 valves.
A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to the heart becomes blocked, most often by plaque that builds up on the walls of the coronary walls over the years. If the blood flow isn’t restored promptly, the heart muscle becomes permanently damaged due to the lack of oxygen and begins to die. The leading cause of death for men and women, heart attacks claim roughly 550,000 people a year in the U.S.
Heart failure affects more than five million Americans. Heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer pump blood efficiently to the body’s other organs, resulting in those organs failing as well. This can lead to the development of some or all of the following symptoms: fatigue, swelling in the feet, ankles, or abdomen, shortness of breath, and/or cough. Those at risk include diabetic patients, patients with high blood pressure, and patients with a history of heart attack.
One out of three women in the U.S. die from cardiovascular disease. Nearly twice as many women die from heart disease than all cancers combined. The most common heart disease is coronary artery disease, including angina and heart attacks. To complicate matters, women can experience heart attack symptoms that men don’t, such as feeling tired, having trouble sleeping and indigestion.
