Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. “The main issues are really heart failure and coronary artery disease. A lot of it stems from lifestyle unfortunately,” said noninvasive cardiologist Dr. Preeth Sundaran. “We have a very obese population within the U.S., high incidence of diabetes and blood pressure issues and cholesterol issues that all contribute to heart disease in general.”
Cardiologists can help reduce that risk. “Most cardiologists deal with everything related to the heart and the vascular system. So, you know, the heart itself and the blood vessels and everything else that arise from the heart,” said Dr. Sundaran.
There are many sub-specialties within cardiology. “As a non-invasive cardiologist, we'll diagnose a problem and if there's a subsequent intervention that needs to be done, whether it's surgical or interventional with a catheterization, then there are other cardiologists in those specialties that deal with that issue,” said Dr. Sundaran.
There are a variety of medications that can help prolong and improve quality of life. “We're using medications that have been studied extensively in randomized controlled trials or large studies, and that have shown to be beneficial in terms of increasing lifespan and also reducing your risk of other cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Sundaran.
However, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. “Making sure that people are following lifestyle choices and making appropriate lifestyle choices in terms of dietary modification, in terms of weight loss, in terms of exercise. So anything we can do from a preventative perspective is going to be extremely important in terms of dealing with heart disease in general,” said Dr. Sundaran. You can learn more by visiting leeehealth.org/heart.
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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
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1 окт 2024
