Heart Care for Life : Developing the Program That Works Best for You

by Barry L. Zaret, M.D., and Genell J. Subak-Sharpe, M.S.

• ISBN13: 9780300108699
• ISBN10: 0300108699
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-02-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

More than 70 million Americans have some form of heart disease. For each of them, obtaining accurate information about the disease and the many options for dealing with it can be both empowering and life saving. In this book, cardiologist Dr. Barry L. Zaret and Genell Subak-Sharpe offer up-to-date facts about the best treatments available and an innovative approach that shows how treatment programs can be tailored to meet the needs of each unique patient. There are no short-term fixes and no one-size-fitsall programs, explain Zaret and Subak-Sharpe. Although certain characteristics are common to each form of heart disease and its treatments,these constants must be tempered against individual variables. The authors outline the constants for the full range of cardiovascular conditions, from angina and heart attacks to high blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmias. They then guide readers through the process of assessing personal variables to develop an individual treatment and life-style program. Written in a warmly reassuring style, this indispensable guide to heart care offers realistic hope and specific directions for designing a lifelong heart care program. Filled with practical advice, instructional case histories, a philosophy for controlling your health, self-tests to assess risk, and questions to ask your doctor, it looks toward an even better future for those with heart disease.

Author Biography

BARRY L. ZARET, M.D., is Robert W. Berliner Professor of Medicine and professor of radiology, Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Zaret served as chief of the section of cardiology at Yale from 1978 - 2004 and has been a pioneer in developing the field of noninvasive diagnosis in cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on nuclear cardiology. GENELL SUBAKSHARPE, M.S., is president of G. S. Sharpe Communications, Inc. and has produced or collaborated on more than forty books in health and medicine.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction	xvi
1. A Personalized Plan: The Key to a Lifelong Heart Program	1	(24)
PART I: LIFESTYLE AND HEART HEALTH	25	(68)
2. Exercise Your Way to a Healthy Heart and Body	31	(19)
3. Adopting a Heart-Healthy Diet	50	(19)
4. Stress, Depression, and Other Psychological Factors	69	(13)
5. Controlling and Stopping Smoking	82	(11)
PART II: THE BASICS OF LIFELONG TREATMENT	93	(72)
6. Diagnostic Tests and Procedures	97	(23)
7. Treating Your Heart Condition	120	(34)
8. Alternative and Complementary Therapies	154	(11)
PART III: POPULATIONS WITH SPECIAL CONCERNS	165	(48)
9. Heart Care for Women	169	(10)
10. Heart Disease in the Elderly	179	(7)
11. Heart Disease in Minority Populations	186	(6)
12. Young Athletes and Heart Disease	192	(7)
13. Adults with Congenital Heart Disease	199	(7)
14. Practical Advice for Travelers	206	(7)
PART IV: ADVANCES IN TREATING HEART DISEASE AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE	213	(31)
15. Recently Developed Devices and Procedures	217	(11)
16. Biologically Based Therapies	228	(11)
17. Experimental Treatments and Clinical Trials	239	(5)
Epilogue	244	(2)
Acknowledgments	246	(1)
Glossary	247	(9)
Further Reading and Resources	256	(5)
Index	261