Cardiology Definition : What Is Cardiology ?

What is cardiology?

Cardiology is the medical specialty that deals with the detection, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the heart.

The cardiologist makes this a number of studies use, the pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, ECG or heart tracing, "the ultrasound of the heart, and the heart catheterisation are the most important. Recently, it is in a number of hospitals is also possible to undergo the relatively new coronary CTA or 3-dimensional heart scan. It can wall irregularities in the coronary arteries are assessed less invasive.

For the treatment to come

• medications (antihypertensives, anti-anginal, arrhythmia-fighting, contractile force enhancers)
• electronic or not implantable devices: pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ICD, artificial circulation pumps,
• operations (eg valve reconstructions, valve replacements, closure of atrial or ventricular septal defects, diversions, revascularization, and ablation) into consideration.

Since about a third of the Dutch population eventually dies from a heart problem, cardiology is one of the larger specialist.

Sub

Within cardiology are a number of distinct areas:

• General cardiology
• Interventional Cardiology
• Imaging
• Rhythm Cardiology
• Genetic cardiology
• Sports Cardiology
• Female Cardiology
• Pediatric Cardiology

These areas run somewhat interchangeably because almost every cardiologist next general cardiologist is a specific field. So there is only a very small number of specialized pediatric cardiologists.

In the above list lacks the surgery. This is because surgery on the heart by someone who specializes performed in thoracic surgery. This is again a separate specialization for which again requires a very different course.

General cardiology

Each cardiologist is well able to diagnose heart diseases and for virtually all the as far as possible to be treated. The training cardiologist is on top of the normal medical training a specialization course of the next 6 years. In those six years, the candidate gains enough knowledge to function independently as a cardiologist.

The functioning of the Dutch cardiologists is supervised by the Dutch Society of Cardiology. Arranged each hospital visited by a commission that assesses the quality of cardiac care is maintained.

Imaging

Previously, the cardiac catheterization was the means to further study the heart, nowadays there are many more ways in which less cumbersome and less risk to the state of the heart can be examined. So for a long time is the echocardiography, exercise test and myocardial scintigraphy. Newer are the methods to assess the operation and functioning of the heart by means of CT scanning and MRI scanning.

Rhythm Cardiology

Cardiac arrhythmias are a problem in many patients. The area of the arrhythmias are somewhat segregated from problems with, for example, the coronary arteries, although it may give problems with the coronary arteries arrhythmias. In the past, it was really only possible to give medications, and optionally placing a pacemaker, arrhythmias are present in a number of cases to be cured by means of ablation techniques, and sometimes severe arrhythmias are to be treated with specialized pacemakers or ICDs.

Interventional Cardiology in Netherlands

In the Netherlands, angioplasty treatment of the blood vessels of the heart concentrated in a limited number of designated centers. There has been chosen for a referral and back referral model in which a patient after investigation refers to a center there if needed to undergo an intervention after which the cardiologist takes care again.