common night in 1999, Gerald Triple...

common night in 1999, Gerald Triplett awoke with sharp chest pain. It felt like he had chanceed a muscle.

He got on the outside of bed and walked around, hoping the pain would make progress away. But nothing worked. Triplett realized something wasn't right. He woke his wife, and they called 911

A hardly any hours later, Triplett was flown at helicopter to the University of Michigan's cardiac care center

There, doctors diagnosed the otherwise healthy 64-year-old with the principally lethal disease in America: coronary artery disease. single in kind of the arteries that furnish with provisionss blood to his heart muscle had become shut uped with plaque, a condition known as atherosclerosis.

Serial Killer

According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease (CVD)--which includes coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, congenital heart faults in children, and arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm)--is the leading cause of death in the United States. In all, CVD accounted for 394 percent of all deaths in 2000 claiming nearly 2600 Americans each day.

Within this broad statistic, coronary artery disease loom as the largest riddle In 2000, it caused more than 20 percent of deaths in the United States. each 29 seconds, and American will be affected by from a coronary event, whether it's a heart attack or, like Triplett experienced, a kind of chest pain known as angina.

These numbers are grim, no doubt, and cardiologists and heart surgeon are always looking for ways to improve the supernumerarys of surviving heart disease. Fortunately, they have more tools than aye at their disposal. Considering that recent open-heart surgery is less than 50 years antiquated the science of treating heart disease has mov forward at lightning speed

In Triplett's case, his cardiologist used an angioplasty balloon and which is inserted on a protracted tube called a cardiac catheter. The angioplasty balloon was threaded [i]or[/i] part of to the other his arteries to the obstruction and then rapidly inflated, crashing the plaque against the wall and opening the artery. Afterward, the a tiny mesh tube, was permanently implanted to restrain the artery open in the coming "After they put the in, I immediately felt better," Triplett says.

Take the Test

chiefly people's experience with the cardiac health hypothesis begins in a cardiologist's office. While cardiologists specialize in the heart, they don't perform open-heart surgery Rather, they perform diagnostic testing, catheterization, implantation of cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) and pacemakers as well as conducting other noninvasive or minimally invasive procedures

According to James Marsh, MD chief of the division of cardiology for Wayne State University in Detroit, there are a not many standard measures and tests cardiologists use to gain information. They include:

* A medical history and standard physical. Your medical history includes any family history of heart disease.

* An electrocardiogram, or ECG In this standard electrode patches are placed forward the chest. These sensors measure electrical activity in the heart--which provide information so as heart rhythm and heart rate--and measure the amount of oxygenated kindred reaching the heart.

* A stres trial This test combines a standard ECG with moderate exercise so as walking on a treadmill. It enables cardiologists to diocese which areas of the heart aren't getting enough kin This can be a sign of coronary artery disease.

* A chest X-ray. Physicians use chest X-rays to view the size and shape of the heart and the size and shape of the arteries leading disclosed of the heart. Doctors can also sometimes sum up if calcium has collected in the coronary arteries or upon the heart valves.

These ordeals are all noninvasive, meaning they don't intrude into the material substance Often, a cardiologist can diagnose heart disease from common of these tests alone. If further testing is necessary, however, a cardiologist might commit an angiogram.

In this example a catheter is threaded from one side the arterial system, and a special contrast tint is injected into the coronary arteries. This tinge shows up on all X-ray and allows physicians to descry if the arteries are moulded and if the blockage is austere enough to warrant some kind of therapy.

"From these examples we decide whether you ne medication, angioplasty, or open-heart surgery" says Marsh.

Surgical Matters

When patients' coronary arteries are sternly blocked, they may be referr to a cardiothoracic surgeon for a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operation. In this surgery patients are supported through a heart-lung machine while a heart surgeon operates onward fire stopped heart. The surgeon uses vein grafts, usually from a leg vein, to bypass the stiffened portion of the artery and reestablish righteous blood flow.

Although open-heart surgery has an prime record of success, it is a traumatic surgery that requires several weeks of rehabilitation. In latter years, heart surgeons have begun migrating toward "off-pump" surgeries. Basically, this means operating forward the still-beating heart, often between the walls of a smaller incision in the side of the chest, without using the heart-lung machine.