A cardiologist is a physician with special training and skill in finding, treating and preventing diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Cardiologists work with patients to treat conditions including coronary artery disease, heart attack, atrial fibrillation and irregular heart rhythm. A cardiologist can help you manage risk through nutrition, exercise and lifestyle changes. If you've had a cardiac event, a cardiologist will play a role in recovery after surgery, cardiac rehab and heart medications.
Cardiac ablation (also known as catheter ablation or radiofrequency ablation) is a surgical procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to correct arrhythmias, which are problems with your heart’s rhythm. In a normal heart, cells create electrical signals that make the upper and lower chambers of your heart beat regularly. If you have atrial fibrillation (a heart arrythmia), abnormal cells affect the electrical signals and cause rapid or irregular heartbeats.
Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat, also called an arrhythmia, that can increase your risk of heart failure, stroke, blood clots and other heart conditions. A normal heart contracts and relaxes to a regular beat, but if you have atrial fibrillation, the atria (upper chambers) beat out of sync with the ventricles (lower chambers). This can cause blood to pool in your atria, causing blood clots that travel to your brain and cause a stroke.
There are many reasons why people want to quit smoking. It increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and certain eye diseases. It affects your respiratory health, it’s expensive and it smells bad. Quitting smoking can be a huge challenge for people, whether they’ve smoked for one year or 20.