Cardiology and Healthcare

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a temporary heart condition that develops in response to an intense emotional or physical experience. It’s also known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome. In this condition, the heart’s main pumping chamber changes shape, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. It can occur at any age in both men and women, but it mostly affects older women. The main symptoms are sudden chest pain, shortness of breath or fainting - usually after feeling severe stress. This condition is temporary and most people recover within two months.

HHT is a genetic condition that causes enlargements and tangles of veins and arteries (telangiectasias) and other malformations of the blood vessels. These can occur in the brain, lungs, digestive system, skin or other organs. HHT is somewhat rare, affecting approximately 1 in 5,000 people. It does not occur more frequently among people of any gender or racial or ethnic background. The main symptoms of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia involve blood vessel malformations that can cause bleeding. Telangiectasias and other AVMs in people with HHT can form from birth until adulthood, and may occur in several organs of the body.

People living with or at risk of inherited heart and blood vessel disorders are helped at the Cardiovascular Genomics Program. It offers comprehensive cardiovascular evaluation and genetic counseling and testing. The Cardiovascular Genomics Program offers several services, including Marfan Syndrome and thoracic Aorta clinic, Long QT Syndrome and Genetic Heart Disorders Clinic, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy clinic and Familial Hypercholesterolemia Clinic.

Artificial intelligence is a computer science field that studies the problem of building agents which take the best possible course of action in a specific situation. Cardiology is at the forefront of artificial intelligence revolution in medicine. AI allows accurate prediction of cardiovascular outcomes, non-invasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease, detection of malignant arrhythmias and diagnosis, treatment, and prediction of outcomes for heart failure patients.

Biomarkers are a powerful tool for identifying high-risk people, promptly and reliably diagnosing illness conditions, and effectively diagnosing and treating patients. Cardiac biomarkers are bio-molecular components obtained through venal punctures and secreted in the blood during an injured or strained heart [4]. Heart biomarker tests may assist in evaluating a person's risk of cardiac illnesses and monitoring and treating someone suspected of having an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and cardiac ischemia. Biomarkers can be used for a variety of clinical applications, such as predicting heart disease risk, diagnosing disease, or predicting outcomes.

The Cardiovascular and Clinical Epidemiology track aims to develop creative and independent investigators who will be able to collaborate effectively with bench and applied scientists to improve disease prevention and treatment at both the clinical and population levels. Students engage in coursework and research applicable to the entire continuum of cardiovascular and clinical epidemiology – prevention and screening, diagnosis, treatment, disease management, and prognostication. The track includes two groups of students – those with a focus on cardiovascular disease epidemiology and those with a focus on clinical epidemiology.

Heart disease may be considered by some to be more of a problem for men. However, it's the most common cause of death for both women and men in the United States. Because some heart disease symptoms in women can differ from those in men, women may not know what to look for. Women are more likely than men to have heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain, such as Neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back or upper belly (abdomen) discomfort, Shortness of breath. Pain in one or both arms, Nausea or vomiting, Sweating, Light headedness or dizziness and Heartburn (indigestion).

Cardiac tumors (also called heart tumors) are growths that form in your heart. They can be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Some are harmless or easily treatable, but others can be fatal. Symptoms of cardiac tumors include chest discomfort, Dizziness and fainting, Fatigue and Joint pains.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), also known as postpartum cardiomyopathy, is an uncommon form of heart failure that happens towards the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery, when no other cause of heart failure can be found. Symptoms are Shortness of breath or breathlessness with light activity and when lying flat,Fatigue, Fluid retention which causes swollen ankles or feet, cough, chest congestion and increased urination at night.

Robotic cardiac surgery is heart surgery done through very small cuts in the chest. With the use of tiny instruments and robot-controlled tools, surgeons are able to do heart surgery in a way that is much less invasive than open-heart surgery. It may also be used to Repair or replace stiff or leaky heart valves and removes tumor in the heart. One of the main benefits of robotic cardiac surgery is that it has fewer risks than open-heart surgery. Risks involved are Heart attack, Stroke, Infection and Death. 

Cardiovascular pharmacology focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of cardiovascular cells and how drugs influence the heart and vascular system. Researchers in the department exploit novel technologies such as induced pluripotent stem cells, automated electrophysiology and genomics to investigate the causes of sudden cardiac death, congenital arrhythmias and cardiac toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Cardiac regeneration is a broad effort that aims to repair irreversibly damaged heart tissue with cutting-edge science, including stem cell and cell-free therapy. Stem cell therapy for the treatment of brain injury would allow clinicians to shift the focus from neuroprotection to neurorestoration, with the potential to restore function to people with brain injury. The side effects of Stem cell therapies are Injecting even a person’s own tissue in a different body part has resulted in severe illness and, in some cases, blindness. Therapies offered by stem cell clinics come with financial risk as well. Because these procedures are generally not covered by insurance.

Precision medicine represents a new strategy in the approach to care by targeting prevention and treatment while considering individual differences in genetics, exposures, and lifestyle and health factors that are determinants of a person’s disease phenotype Precision Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease include Genetic basis of inherited cardiovascular disease, Modes of genetic inheritance, Types of genetic variations, Approach of cardiac genetic testing and Analysis and interpretation of genetic data.

Telehealth allows healthcare providers to evaluate, diagnose, inform and treat patients without an in-person visit. Patients can communicate with physicians from their homes using their own personal technology or by visiting a dedicated telehealth kiosk. The types of Telemedicine include Interactive, Remote patient monitoring, Store and forward and Mobile. The major advantages of this are Convenience, Increased access and Reduced exposure.

COVID-19 is associated with many cardiac complications. Cardiac injury is recognized as one of the most frequent complications of the disease. Long-term cardiac complications following COVID-19 include ischemic heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmias, and myocarditis. Research shows COVID-19 infection can increase the risk for heart-related problems such as myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart, and an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation.

Cardiovascular aging is a complex process of adaptive structural and functional changes over time. With advancing age, the arterial tree thickens and decreases in compliance, resulting in increased pulse wave velocity, systolic blood pressure, and left ventricular afterload. Causes of heart aging increases someone smoke, eat poorly, don't exercise enough, or have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity.  Approximately 75% of all heart attacks and strokes link back to these risk factors.