Articles on the heart and metabolism: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, heart rhythm and the risk factors that link them. Chest pain, breathlessness or fainting need urgent care, not reading.
High cholesterol itself does not usually cause symptoms; most people feel entirely well until it has quietly damaged arteries. Tiredness, headaches and dizziness are…
Metformin is a prescription medicine for type 2 diabetes, and no randomized trial has yet shown that it extends life or slows aging in…
Disease-specific therapy for cardiac amyloidosis is usually started once the amyloid type is confirmed, because light-chain (AL) and transthyretin (ATTR) disease are treated completely…
A permanent pacemaker is implanted through a small incision below the collarbone under local anesthesia, usually with light sedation. Thin insulated wires called leads…
Age alone rarely decides whether an older adult can have cardiothoracic surgery. Surgical teams weigh frailty, kidney and lung function, diabetes, memory, mobility and…
Repairing a congenital heart defect changes the heart's anatomy, but it rarely makes the heart identical to one that formed normally. Over decades, patches…
Heart bypass surgery, also called coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), treats blocked coronary arteries by sewing a healthy blood vessel taken from the chest…
Heart monitoring during chemotherapy means checking the heart's pumping strength and stress markers before, during, and after treatments known to affect it. Oncologists typically…
After cardiac rehab ends, most people are encouraged to continue the same pattern they practiced in the program: regular moderate aerobic activity on most…
Blood sugar spikes are sharp rises in glucose after eating, usually peaking within an hour and settling within two to three hours in healthy…
Eating vegetables and protein before the carbohydrate portion of a meal (food order) and taking a small amount of diluted vinegar before eating both…
In robotic heart surgery, the robot does not operate on its own. A cardiac surgeon sits at a console a few feet from the…
Life after a heart transplant is organized around three routines: scheduled rejection checks (clinic visits, blood tests, echocardiograms and, especially in the first year,…
Angina usually needs more than medication when symptoms keep limiting daily life despite well-adjusted medicines, when tests show a large area of heart muscle…
After arrhythmia treatment, mild palpitations, a faster resting pulse, fatigue, a bruised access site and skin soreness after cardioversion are common and usually settle…
After TAVI, most people are helped to sit up and take their first steps within hours of the procedure, spend roughly one to three…
A CTO PCI procedure reopens a coronary artery that has been completely blocked for at least three months. Working through a small puncture in…
Statin alternatives range from well-tested medicines to modest supplements. Ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors and bempedoic acid have randomized trials showing they lower LDL cholesterol and…
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