The American Heart Association Revealed Cardiovascular Advances
Apr 6, 2015 | 11:00 am
Who is the American Heart Association?
The American Heart Association is one of the oldest associations in our history, which was formed by six volunteer cardiologists with a mission to study and eliminate heart disease. It now has grown to over 22 million volunteers and over 2,700 employees. The Association is dedicated to provide public education and to provide treatment guidelines to healthcare professionals. Providing overall better health for our communities is priority.
Advancements
The American Heart Association revealed its top cardiovascular advances for 2013 and 2014. These are not necessarily new technologies or medications that will stop people from having heart attacks and strokes. However, some of the research shows what causes these ailments and helps isolate problems at an early age.
Cardiac Rehabilitation
New studies have proven that rehabilitation for cardiac patients can provide a much more positive outcome for patients hospitalized with cardiac issues than those who do not receive rehabilitation. Most people do not see the real value in actually doing the rehabilitation because they may be feeling better, so it may not make sense. Folks today are living out an extremely busy schedule and don’t want to take time to do this therapy because it cramps their timeline. Willingness to work with a cardiac technician to strengthen the heart after an unpopular episode might be more beneficial than the individual might think. The long-term effects of cardiac rehabilitation prove to be particularly beneficial.
Prevention
The American Heart Association publishes guidelines on heart disease and stroke prevention and doctors go by these guidelines because the AHA historical information is reliable and trustworthy. There are four main categories that the association focuses on pertinent to the issues of heart disease.
Cholesterol: Cholesterol buildup in the arteries in the form of plaque that can cause problems with blood flow and also plays an intrinsic role in stroke factor.
Lifestyle: The patient’s lifestyle will often paint a picture of probabilities or possibilities of what may be lying in wait, if changes are not soon made.
Obesity: With proper preventative assessment, the BMI of a patient can categorize him or her into a particular risk zone that needs to be approached with their physician or cardiac technician. Other factors may need to be addressed like decreased range of motion, ambulatory problems, and diabetic and nutrition concerns.
Risk Assessment: One of the most powerful preventive tools is risk assessment in order to discover and prioritize guidelines for patients that are in an extreme bracket for high cardiac risks.
Endovascular Treatment:
Timely interventional radiological treatments for cardiovascular problems like aneurysm, stroke, vessel occlusion, and other problems have proven to decrease mortality significantly in patients of this type. With new types of technology in this field, the number of patients having open-heart surgery and open carotid endarterectomy has significantly decreased. With the advancement of coronary artery stints, the mortality rates in patients with coronary disease who undergo these procedures have also dropped considerably. Endovascular research and treatment are possibly the most intriguing benefits of the study and investment done to date by the American Heart Association.