Heart attack - Animation

You feel a tight band of pain around your chest. The pain moves from your chest to your arms, shoulder, and neck. What could your pain mean? Could it be a heart attack. . . could it be the big one?Heart attacks are caused by interruption of blood supply to part of the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, your heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die. A hard substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your coronary arteries. This plaque is made up of cholesterol and other cells. A heart attack can occur as a result of plaque buildup or the rupture of one of these plaques. We're not sure why heart attacks occur when they do. You may have a heart attack when you are resting or asleep, or after a sudden increase in physical activity, when you are outside in cold weather, or after a sudden, severe emotional or physical stress, including an illness. So, how is a heart attack treated?If you go to the hospital for a suspected heart attack, a doctor or nurse will listen to your chest with a stethoscope. You will have a blood test to look for heart damage. A coronary angiography test can show your doctor how well blood is moving through your heart. If blood moves slowly, or not at all through your coronary arteries, you have either a narrowed, or blocked artery. Other tests can look at the valves and chambers of your heart and check for abnormal heart rhythms. If you've had a heart attack, doctors can do an emergency procedure called angioplasty. This surgery or procedure can open narrowed or blocked blood vessels. Usually they'll place a small, metal mesh tube, called a stent, in your artery to help keep it open. You may also receive drugs to break up the clot in your artery. Sometimes, doctors will do heart bypass surgery to get blood flowing to your heart muscle again. After you are treated in the hospital for a heart attack, you may need to take medicines to thin your blood, to protect your heart, or to improve your cholesterol levels. You may need to take these medicines for the rest of your life. Most people who have had a heart attack also need cardiac rehabilitation. This will help you slowly increase your exercise level and learn how to follow a healthy lifestyle. After you have a heart attack, your chance of another is higher. How well you do after a heart attack depends on the damage to your heart and where the damage is, and what steps you take to prevent another one. If your heart can no longer pump blood to your body as well as it used to, you may have heart failure and will need lifelong treatment. Usually a person who has had a heart attack can slowly go back to normal activities, but you will need to take steps to prevent another heart attack.

Nuclear stress test - Animation

Your heart is the engine that keeps blood pumping throughout your body. When your heart doesn't work as well as it should, your body can't function normally. If you've had heart problems in the past, your doctor may recommend that you have a test to see how well your blood is flowing into your heart. Let's talk today about thallium and sestamibi stress test, also known as nuclear stress test. This is your heart. It's job is to receive oxygen-poor blood from your body, send it to your lungs to pick up fresh oxygen, then pump that oxygen-rich blood back out to your body. When your heart doesn't get enough blood, it can't work as well as it should. So, why would you need a thallium or sestamibi stress test?Well, your doctor may recommend that you have this test to find out why you're having chest pain, find out which treatment is best for your heart disease, check whether a treatment you've already had, such as medicine or surgery, is working, or see if you have coronary artery disease. So, what happens during the stress test?Well, you'll start to prepare for the stress test a day ahead of time. Don't eat anything the night before the test, and avoid any foods that contain caffeine for a full day beforehand. You'll have to skip your morning cup of coffee or tea, and avoid sodas and chocolate. Your doctor will let you know if you need to stop taking any of your medicines before the test. When you arrive at the doctor's office or medical center for the test, an intravenous, or IV line will be placed into your vein. Through this line, a weakly radioactive substance will be injected into one of your veins. You'll lie down and wait for 15 to 45 minutes, and a special camera will take pictures as the thallium or sestamibi substance moves into your heart during a period of rest. Then you'll walk on a treadmill with EKG electrodes monitoring your heart activity. Once you've reached your maximum level of exercise you'll get another injection of the radioactive substance and your heart will be scanned to see how well the blood is flowing during a period of "stress. " If you can't exercise, you'll get a drug that will simulate the effects of exercise by making your heart beat faster. During the test, some people feel chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or a fast heartbeat. Let the person who is doing the test know right away if you don't feel well. So, what do the test results mean?Well, your doctor will compare the first set of images to the second set, to see if you have heart disease or your heart disease is getting worse. If blood is flowing well through the arteries of your heart, then your test is normal. If blood isn't flowing well, you may have a blockage in one or more of the coronary arteries of your heart. In that case, you may need to have another test, or an angiography, stent or heart bypass surgery to open up a blocked artery. A stress test can help your doctor see how well your heart is working. Then, you can find out together which treatments you'll need to get your blood pumping smoothly again.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm - Animation

Your blood vessels are the transport system that carries blood to and from your heart, to the rest of your body. Usually, everything runs pretty smoothly with this system, but sometimes there can be a problem. For example, one of the large blood vessels that supplies blood to your abdomen and lower body can swell up or bulge. This bulge is called an abdominal aortic aneurysm, and it can be pretty serious if it breaks open, or ruptures. Let's talk about abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is the descending aorta, one of the large blood vessels that sends blood to your abdomen and legs. Over a period of many years, this blood vessel can start to bulge. Although doctors aren't sure exactly what causes an aneurysm, they do know that it's more common in males over 60 and people who are overweight, who smoke, or who have high blood pressure or cholesterol. Eventually, if not treated, the aneurysm can pop open or rupture, and spill blood into your abdominal cavity or into the wall of the artery. If an aneurysm ruptures, it is considered a true medical emergency. So, how do you find out if you have an aneurysm?You may not realize that you have one, because often aneurysms don't cause any symptoms until they rupture. An imaging test like a CT scan or ultrasound may help in finding a suspected aneurysm. If it does break open, you may feel severe pain in your stomach. That pain may spread to your groin, buttocks, or legs. You could also feel sick to your stomach, have clammy skin, and your heart may beat faster than normal. If you have any of these symptoms, see your doctor, who can examine you. Your doctor may also recommend an imaging test to see for sure if you have an aneurysm. Treatments for aneurysms vary depending on how severe the aneurysm is. If you're not having symptoms, and your aneurysm is small and hasn't broken open, your doctor may suggest just checking it every six months to make sure it doesn't get bigger. If it's bigger than 2 inches, you'll probably need to have surgery. The goal is to perform surgery before complications and symptoms develop. The surgeon will replace the damaged, bulging section of blood vessel with a section of man-made vessel, commonly called a graft. It's better to avoid getting an aneurysm than to have to treat it. Eat a healthy diet, watch your cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and quit smoking to help prevent an aneurysm from forming in the first place. Men who are over the age of 65 and have ever smoked or who have a close relative who's had an abdominal aortic aneurysm should have one screening ultrasound done to check for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. If you're having any symptoms of an abdominal aneurysm, like severe pain in your belly or back, it's very important that you get medical help right away. Go to the emergency room or call your health care provider for immediate help. Small aneurysms are easy to treat with surgery. But once they get larger and rupture, they can be life threatening.

Heart attack - Animation

You feel a tight band of pain around your chest. The pain moves from your chest to your arms, shoulder, and neck. What could your pain mean? Could it be a heart attack. . . could it be the big one?Heart attacks are caused by interruption of blood supply to part of the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, your heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die. A hard substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your coronary arteries. This plaque is made up of cholesterol and other cells. A heart attack can occur as a result of plaque buildup or the rupture of one of these plaques. We're not sure why heart attacks occur when they do. You may have a heart attack when you are resting or asleep, or after a sudden increase in physical activity, when you are outside in cold weather, or after a sudden, severe emotional or physical stress, including an illness. So, how is a heart attack treated?If you go to the hospital for a suspected heart attack, a doctor or nurse will listen to your chest with a stethoscope. You will have a blood test to look for heart damage. A coronary angiography test can show your doctor how well blood is moving through your heart. If blood moves slowly, or not at all through your coronary arteries, you have either a narrowed, or blocked artery. Other tests can look at the valves and chambers of your heart and check for abnormal heart rhythms. If you've had a heart attack, doctors can do an emergency procedure called angioplasty. This surgery or procedure can open narrowed or blocked blood vessels. Usually they'll place a small, metal mesh tube, called a stent, in your artery to help keep it open. You may also receive drugs to break up the clot in your artery. Sometimes, doctors will do heart bypass surgery to get blood flowing to your heart muscle again. After you are treated in the hospital for a heart attack, you may need to take medicines to thin your blood, to protect your heart, or to improve your cholesterol levels. You may need to take these medicines for the rest of your life. Most people who have had a heart attack also need cardiac rehabilitation. This will help you slowly increase your exercise level and learn how to follow a healthy lifestyle. After you have a heart attack, your chance of another is higher. How well you do after a heart attack depends on the damage to your heart and where the damage is, and what steps you take to prevent another one. If your heart can no longer pump blood to your body as well as it used to, you may have heart failure and will need lifelong treatment. Usually a person who has had a heart attack can slowly go back to normal activities, but you will need to take steps to prevent another heart attack.

Nuclear stress test - Animation

Your heart is the engine that keeps blood pumping throughout your body. When your heart doesn't work as well as it should, your body can't function normally. If you've had heart problems in the past, your doctor may recommend that you have a test to see how well your blood is flowing into your heart. Let's talk today about thallium and sestamibi stress test, also known as nuclear stress test. This is your heart. It's job is to receive oxygen-poor blood from your body, send it to your lungs to pick up fresh oxygen, then pump that oxygen-rich blood back out to your body. When your heart doesn't get enough blood, it can't work as well as it should. So, why would you need a thallium or sestamibi stress test?Well, your doctor may recommend that you have this test to find out why you're having chest pain, find out which treatment is best for your heart disease, check whether a treatment you've already had, such as medicine or surgery, is working, or see if you have coronary artery disease. So, what happens during the stress test?Well, you'll start to prepare for the stress test a day ahead of time. Don't eat anything the night before the test, and avoid any foods that contain caffeine for a full day beforehand. You'll have to skip your morning cup of coffee or tea, and avoid sodas and chocolate. Your doctor will let you know if you need to stop taking any of your medicines before the test. When you arrive at the doctor's office or medical center for the test, an intravenous, or IV line will be placed into your vein. Through this line, a weakly radioactive substance will be injected into one of your veins. You'll lie down and wait for 15 to 45 minutes, and a special camera will take pictures as the thallium or sestamibi substance moves into your heart during a period of rest. Then you'll walk on a treadmill with EKG electrodes monitoring your heart activity. Once you've reached your maximum level of exercise you'll get another injection of the radioactive substance and your heart will be scanned to see how well the blood is flowing during a period of "stress. " If you can't exercise, you'll get a drug that will simulate the effects of exercise by making your heart beat faster. During the test, some people feel chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or a fast heartbeat. Let the person who is doing the test know right away if you don't feel well. So, what do the test results mean?Well, your doctor will compare the first set of images to the second set, to see if you have heart disease or your heart disease is getting worse. If blood is flowing well through the arteries of your heart, then your test is normal. If blood isn't flowing well, you may have a blockage in one or more of the coronary arteries of your heart. In that case, you may need to have another test, or an angiography, stent or heart bypass surgery to open up a blocked artery. A stress test can help your doctor see how well your heart is working. Then, you can find out together which treatments you'll need to get your blood pumping smoothly again.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm - Animation

Your blood vessels are the transport system that carries blood to and from your heart, to the rest of your body. Usually, everything runs pretty smoothly with this system, but sometimes there can be a problem. For example, one of the large blood vessels that supplies blood to your abdomen and lower body can swell up or bulge. This bulge is called an abdominal aortic aneurysm, and it can be pretty serious if it breaks open, or ruptures. Let's talk about abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is the descending aorta, one of the large blood vessels that sends blood to your abdomen and legs. Over a period of many years, this blood vessel can start to bulge. Although doctors aren't sure exactly what causes an aneurysm, they do know that it's more common in males over 60 and people who are overweight, who smoke, or who have high blood pressure or cholesterol. Eventually, if not treated, the aneurysm can pop open or rupture, and spill blood into your abdominal cavity or into the wall of the artery. If an aneurysm ruptures, it is considered a true medical emergency. So, how do you find out if you have an aneurysm?You may not realize that you have one, because often aneurysms don't cause any symptoms until they rupture. An imaging test like a CT scan or ultrasound may help in finding a suspected aneurysm. If it does break open, you may feel severe pain in your stomach. That pain may spread to your groin, buttocks, or legs. You could also feel sick to your stomach, have clammy skin, and your heart may beat faster than normal. If you have any of these symptoms, see your doctor, who can examine you. Your doctor may also recommend an imaging test to see for sure if you have an aneurysm. Treatments for aneurysms vary depending on how severe the aneurysm is. If you're not having symptoms, and your aneurysm is small and hasn't broken open, your doctor may suggest just checking it every six months to make sure it doesn't get bigger. If it's bigger than 2 inches, you'll probably need to have surgery. The goal is to perform surgery before complications and symptoms develop. The surgeon will replace the damaged, bulging section of blood vessel with a section of man-made vessel, commonly called a graft. It's better to avoid getting an aneurysm than to have to treat it. Eat a healthy diet, watch your cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and quit smoking to help prevent an aneurysm from forming in the first place. Men who are over the age of 65 and have ever smoked or who have a close relative who's had an abdominal aortic aneurysm should have one screening ultrasound done to check for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. If you're having any symptoms of an abdominal aneurysm, like severe pain in your belly or back, it's very important that you get medical help right away. Go to the emergency room or call your health care provider for immediate help. Small aneurysms are easy to treat with surgery. But once they get larger and rupture, they can be life threatening.