What is a Cardiologist?
A cardiologist is a physician who specializes in heart and blood vessel ailments. They can both help you cure and prevent cardiac issues. To figure out what's wrong, they can request tests like electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, and CT scans. Given their diagnosis, they can prescribe medication, suggest exercise and diet plans for you to start, or do a heart catheterization.
Your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood glucose (sugar) levels can all provide your cardiologist with important information about your cardiovascular health.
Symptoms, medical background, and family history will all be discussed with you by a cardiologist when they perform a physical examination. Be prepared to discuss both your personal and family history of health. If your parents, siblings, or other family members have experienced heart issues, your cardiologist will want to know about it. Your cardiologist can use this information to determine the potential severity of your cardiac issues.
Your doctor will consider all of this data as well as any test results to determine your risk factors for heart problems. They'll also ask a few questions about your smoking habits, level of exercise, diet, and medications you're taking.
To be able to practice this, cardiologists undergo three years of general internal medicine training as residents after four years of medical school, followed by at least three more years of highly specialized education.
Cardiologists are eligible to sit for the American Board of Internal Medicine examination after completing 10 years of study. Even after receiving board certification, cardiologists continue to study for as long as they practice. To offer the best care, they must stay abreast of the most recent developments in care delivery.
Cases
Subspecialties
Interventional Cardiologists
Interventional cardiologists are trained to "intervene" with additional minimally invasive treatments to aid in the treatment of the condition. An "angioplasty" is carried out when one of the major heart blood vessels is partially obstructed. This procedure involves placing a balloon into the partially blocked artery.
Invasive Cardiologists
If balloon angioplasty, stent placement, or surgery is necessary, the patient may be referred to an interventional cardiologist or cardiac surgeon. Invasive cardiologists perform all cardiologists' duties as well as cardiac catheterizations to check for blocked arteries and damaged heart valves.
Noninvasive Cardiologist
This specialist performs procedures such as stress tests and echocardiograms to help detect and treat heart and vascular disorders. Blockages and other issues can be identified, and the patient may be recommended to an invasive or interventional cardiologist for a cardiac catheterization operation if necessary.
Pediatric Cardiologist
As the name implies, this subspecialist is skilled in identifying and treating cardiac conditions in all age groups, including fetuses, newborns, and adolescents.
Cardiac Electrophysiologist
An electrophysiologist who specializes in the treatment of palpitations, fibrillation (heart valve flutters) and irregular heart rhythms (too slow, too fast, inconsistent), is known as a cardiac electrophysiologist. This subspecialist will do testing by introducing electrical leads into the heart in addition to performing other diagnostic procedures. The electrophysiologist may employ radio waves to reestablish a normal heartbeat if medications are ineffective in treating irregular heartbeats.
Cardiothoracic Surgeon
These surgeons are qualified to do procedures on the thorax, heart, and lungs, which are essentially the parts of the body between the neck and abdomen.
Surgery for conditions like lung or esophageal cancer is a specialty of a thoracic surgeon.
Vascular Surgeon
A vascular surgeon focuses on the lymphatic and arterial systems of the brain and heart, which remove toxins from the body. One of the medical conditions that a vascular surgeon treats is peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Others include placing stents in abdominal aortic aneurysms and other blocked blood vessels or opening arteries to prevent strokes.
Centers & Institutes
Healthcare Delivery by Cardiologist in the US
Cardiology is a high-risk field. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is a leading cause of mortality in the United States.
To enable the heart to function as it should, a lot of different parts must come together. Some of these elements include pressure, fluidity, flow, the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle, and electrical charges. All of these contribute to the varied components of the cardiovascular system's normal operation. As a result, there are a huge variety of cardiology specializations available.
Finding the appropriate match between you and your specialist is crucial when you have a complex medical condition like heart disease. Your primary care physician will frequently make the first diagnosis of heart or vascular disease before referring you to a cardiologist. Your symptoms and medical history are assessed by the cardiologist, who may then suggest testing to make a more certain diagnosis. A decision is then made by your cardiologist regarding whether or not your disease can be managed under his or her supervision using medications or other accessible treatments. Your cardiologist will refer you to a cardiovascular surgeon, who specializes in procedures on the heart, lungs, and blood vessels, if they determine that you require surgery. Even when you are directed to other specialists, your cardiologist remains in charge of your care.
Many cardiologists have varied areas of specialization since cardiology is a diverse field. Clinical cardiologists are all doctors who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment (with drugs), and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Pediatric cardiology is a subspecialty of clinical cardiologists who diagnose and treat children's heart conditions. Clinical cardiologists who only care for adult patients are considered adult cardiologists. Other clinical cardiologists might focus on electrophysiology, echocardiography, or interventional techniques like balloon angioplasty and stent implantation.
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The material presented above is only meant to be informative and is not intended to take the place of advice from your doctor or another health care practitioner. We advise you to talk to your provider about any questions or issues you may have.
