A Story of Miraculous Healing

The most widely used test to detect heart disease is the stress electrocardiogram (EKG). The EKG traces your heart rate while you exercise on the treadmill. It can identify changes in your heart rhythm, whether enough oxygen is getting to your heart and how much time you can reasonably withstand on a treadmill, which also helps measure your heart’s capacity.

Nuclear stress is more exact in measuring and locating heart dysfunction. A radionuclide agent is used to sharpen the images that your doctors will analyze.

An echocardiogram uses sound waves to create moving pictures of the heart that provide a wealth of helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart, its pumping strength and the location and extent of any damage to its tissues. AdventHealth Waterman has new 3D technology to assist our doctors in diagnosing your condition and help you feel better, faster.

The purpose of cardiac catheterization is to find out if you have disease in your coronary arteries. This test can pinpoint the size and location of fat and calcium deposits (plaque) that are narrowing your coronary arteries. Results from cardiac catheterization help determine what specialized treatment will be most effective.

Angioplasty, also known as interventional cardiology and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is a procedure used to help reopen blocked coronary arteries. During angioplasty, an inflatable, balloon-like device is attached to a catheter to widen diseased arteries and increase blood flow to the heart. Sometimes a stent, a small piece wire mesh, is inserted after an angioplasty to help hold the artery open.

During a heart attack, an angioplasty procedure can be lifesaving. Better still, elective PCI can prevent a heart attack from happening in the first place. Our experienced interventional specialists can now use balloons and stents to save lives.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a surgical option for people who have severe coronary artery disease, a condition in which plaque builds up in the coronary arteries and reduces blood flow to the heart muscle. It is typically only performed when other treatments, such as medicine or angioplasty, are not sufficient to correct the blockage.

During CABG, a healthy vein or artery from another part of the body is “grafted” to the blocked artery, creating a new passageway for oxygen-rich blood to reach the heart. This vein or artery may be removed from the leg, chest, or forearm. It is then attached to the aorta on one end and the diseased coronary artery on the other end, just past the blocked area. Blood is then redirected through the graft, detouring the diseased section and increasing blood flow to that area of the heart.

CABG typically requires the chest to be opened surgically, and a heart-lung bypass machine is used to circulate the blood and add oxygen while the heart is stopped during the grafting procedure.

For some patients, “off pump” surgery may be an option. With this less invasive technique, the heart muscle is slowed with medication but is still beating during the procedure, circulating blood and oxygen on its own without the need for a heart-lung bypass machine. For patients with lung problems, a history of stroke, or those who may have difficulty tolerating the heart-lung bypass machine, off-pump bypass surgery may be the best option. Other candidates for off-pump surgery include those who have undergone conventional CABG surgery and have recurring or new blockages in the grafts, patients who have recurring problems after angioplasty, and patients who cannot tolerate more invasive surgery.

The primary benefit of off-pump bypass surgery is decreased recovery time, which may range from three to four weeks compared to four to six weeks for traditional CABG surgery. A further benefit is that patients are awake and alert much earlier after surgery, with decreased likelihood of cognitive impairment. Additionally, the risk of stroke, bleeding and kidney failure and the need for blood transfusions is significantly reduced.

Intracardiac electrophysiology studies examine how well the heart’s electrical signals are functioning. This diagnostic test is used to look for abnormal heartbeats or heart rhythms which could be a sign of a heart arrhythmia. These results can help you and your doctor decide whether you need medicine, a pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), cardiac ablation or surgery. These studies take place in a special room called an electrophysiology (EP) lab or catheterization (cath) lab while you are mildly sedated.

AdventHealth Waterman’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is a medically supervised program to help you recover after a heart attack, from other forms of heart disease, or after surgery to treat heart disease. Cardiac rehabilitation programs significantly increase your chances of survival.

Recommended by both the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, the goals of cardiac rehabilitation are to help you regain strength, to prevent your condition from worsening and to reduce your risk of future heart problems. These goals can add up to a better quality of life.

Our medical team will work with you to develop a customized program of exercise and education. Cardiac rehabilitation is divided into phases that involve various levels of monitored exercise, nutritional counseling, emotional support, and education about lifestyle changes to reduce your risk of heart problems.

If you’ve had a heart attack or heart surgery, or if you have another heart condition, ask your doctor about joining our cardiac rehabilitation program. You’re likely to come out of our program feeling better than before.