Category: Cardiology 101

posts here focus on a variety of topics all about the heart and how it works

Women’s cardiac care: back then, right now and into our future

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 21 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Earlier this year, the American Heart Association published a comprehensive article called “The Slowly Evolving Truth About Heart Disease and Women”. This fact-packed article felt like an emotional roller coaster ride – from despair to frustration and then maybe even hope for our future. So I’m sharing my favourite excerpts from this article today – especially for my readers living with heart disease. Get onboard and buckle up as we explore some heart truths together with the AHA:  Continue reading “Women’s cardiac care: back then, right now and into our future” →

When you have a ‘silent’ heart attack

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Perhaps you’ve heard the term “silent” heart attack. If you’ve experienced this cardiac event, you might recall having only mild cardiac symptoms at the time, or symptoms that didn’t feel like they were heart-related – or even no symptoms.  In fact, you may be unaware that this has happened to you at all until later medical tests reveal evidence of heart muscle damage in the past.  Continue reading “When you have a ‘silent’ heart attack” →

Post-stent chest pain, revisited

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 18 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

A clinical review paper published in the European Heart Journal, under the intriguing section called “Controversies in Cardiovascular Medicine”, revealed a controversy that I’ve written about (and experienced in real life):  post-stent chest pain.1

This clinical review started with a polite acknowledgement that “procedural success is routinely achieved”  in heart patients when blocked coronary arteries are treated with an implanted stent. But immediately following the niceties about the success of the procedure, review authors threw in this zinger:

“Persistence or recurrence of angina after a stent is well-recognized and may affect 20–40 per cent of patients during short to medium-term follow-up.” 

Whaaaaat?!    That’s like the old hospital joke: “The operation was successful – but the patient died!”  And how can a stent procedure be dubbed a success if up to 40 per cent of patients suffer persistent or recurring chest pain afterwards? Continue reading “Post-stent chest pain, revisited” →

Survey: how women (and our doctors) respond to early cardiac symptoms

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

I have often written and spoken out about an alarming reality observed among women experiencing their first cardiac symptoms. Researchers call it “treatment-seeking delay behaviour”. One of several interesting studies on this particular tendency in female heart patients was published in The American Journal of Critical Care, for example. Oregon researchers reported that female heart patients are significantly more likely to delay seeking medical treatment compared to our male counterparts – yes, even in mid-heart attack. In fact, study authors identified six common patterns of decision-making delays between the time women first experience serious cardiac symptoms and the time when they go for help.(1)  Those six patterns range from “minimizing symptoms” to “reluctance to ask others for help”.

But just in case these studies seem to suggest that women are to blame for poor cardiac outcomes because we wait too long, let’s look at how prepared our physicians are to assess cardiovascular risks in their female patients. The landmark Women’s Heart Alliance survey asked both female heart patients and physicians for their own perspectives – with surprising results, especially this particular finding:

Physicians may not feel as prepared as you think.      .

Continue reading “Survey: how women (and our doctors) respond to early cardiac symptoms” →