Testing and Treatment:

A strong, healthy heart is vital for longevity. At our office we are able to detect and/or prevent heart problems by offering the following screening tools: Echocardiogram, Electrocardiogram, Holter Monitor, cholesterol testing, and blood pressure measurements.

 

> Echo Cardiogram
> Electrocardiogram(EKG)
> Holter Monitor
> Lipid disorder
> Hypertension

 

• An echo cardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. It can provide helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart, its pumping capacity and the location and extent of any damage to its tissues. It is especially useful for assessing diseases of the heart valves. It can also detect abnormalities in the pattern of blood flow, such as the backward flow of blood through partly closed heart valves, known as regurgitation.

 

• An electrocardiogram(EKG) is a test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat. With each beat, an electrical impulse travels through the heart. This wave causes the muscle to squeeze and pump blood from the heart. An EKG can show whether there has been a heart attack or whether the electrical activity is too slow, too fast, or irregular.

 

• A Holter Monitor which is a continuous tape recording of a patient’s EKG for 24 hours. Since it can be worn during the patient’s regular daily activities, it helps your physician correlate symptoms of dizziness, palpitations (a sensation of fast or irregular heart rhythm) or blackouts. A holter monitor may be more revealing than an EKG since it is worn for 24 hours and an EKG only lasts less than 1 minute.

 

• The medical term for high blood cholesterol is lipid disorder. Such a disorder occurs when you have too many fatty substances in your blood. In our office, we provide cholesterol testing in where we measure LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol), If lifestyle changes do not improve your cholesterol levels, we may recommend medication or natural herbal therapy.

 

• Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure. Blood pressure readings are measured in mmHg and usually given as two numbers. The top number is your systolic pressure, the pressure created when your heart beats. It is considered high if it’s consistently over 140. The bottom number is your diastolic pressure, the pressure inside blood vessels when the heart is at rest. It is considered high if it is consistently over 90. The goal of treatment is to reduce blood pressure so that you have a lower risk of complications. As with high cholesterol problems, we are
able to offer medications as well as natural herbal therapy to successfully treat high blood pressure.