Cardiology

When do I need cardiology care?

Marion Heart Center & Marion Physician Associates provides comprehensive cardiology care to patients experiencing heart-related symptoms, needing treatment for an existing condition, or wanting preventive heart care.

Patients often consult the team’s experienced cardiologists when they have classic heart symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, and an irregular, racing, or fluttering heartbeat. 

You could also have signs of heart problems like fatigue, urinating during the night, and a fluid buildup causing swollen legs and feet or abdominal bloating.

What conditions do cardiology specialists treat?

Cardiologists diagnose and treat all the diseases affecting your heart, arteries, veins, and lymph system. A few of the most common conditions include:

• Heart attacks
• Heart failure
• Coronary artery disease (blocked heart arteries)
• Heart arrhythmias (irregular, slow, or fast heartbeats)
• Pericarditis (inflammation around the heart)
• Cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease)
• Heart valve conditions (leaking or narrowing valves)

The team also treats the underlying conditions that cause heart disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

How does preventive cardiology improve my health?

The Marion Heart Center & Marion Physician Associates team helps you prevent cardiovascular disease with heart health screenings and risk assessments. Depending on your risks, your provider may run cardiac testing.

At least 80% of heart disease could be prevented by:

• Following a healthy diet
• Getting more exercise
• Losing weight
• Stopping smoking
• Treating insomnia and sleep apnea

Preventive cardiology does more than improve your heart health; it protects you from life-threatening complications like heart attacks and strokes.

What cardiology treatments might I receive?

Your personalized treatment plan begins with lifestyle recommendations and medications. If they don’t help, your provider may recommend a minimally invasive procedure.

Minimally invasive procedures include implanting devices like a pacemaker, removing cholesterol plaque, and replacing a valve (to name a few).

The team also specializes in external counterpulsation (ECP), a noninvasive treatment for angina (chest pain) that fails to improve with medication or can’t be treated with surgery.

During ECP, your provider places cuffs (similar to a blood pressure cuff) around your calves, thighs, and buttocks. The cuffs work with your heartbeat, inflating when it rests to quickly push more blood back to the heart and then deflating just before it beats again.

ECP relieves angina by improving circulation, strengthening heart muscles, and promoting new blood vessel pathways.

Call Marion Heart Center & Marion Physician Associates or book online to schedule a cardiology appointment today.