Tag Archives: Heart

5 ways to keep your heart healthy in 2023

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, medical moment, ,

By Ronald Grifka
University of Michigan Health-West

The recent cardiac arrest of the Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin during a Monday Night Football game coincides with the beginning of American Heart Month, and the annual February focus on cardiovascular health. Focus is needed for any health plan to be a success, but executing that plan poses a distinct challenge.

With many new research studies, medications, supplements and therapies available, formulating a health plan that most adults can maintain throughout the year can be confusing. Here are five tips that should be both sustainable and successful.

1. Diet and exercise

The familiar trope ― more exercise, healthier diet ― remains the best place to start. The benefits to your heart of a healthy diet and exercise can fill a library of books.

 

Adding exercise is an important tool for a healthy heart. (Pxhere.com)

The typical American diet is riddled with too many calories, excessive carbohydrates, and the wrong type of fats. An unhealthy diet can lead to numerous health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attacks, strokes and cancer, just to name a few. Billions of dollars are spent on these health problems caused by an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise.

 

Without making changes, an unhealthy lifestyle can rob us from months and years of great life with our family and friends. Are those chips, dips and large sodas more valuable than another healthy year or two with your kids? Grandkids? Friends? Travel?

Let’s make 2023 the year we get off the couch, put down the remote control and cell phone, choose a small beverage (instead of the supersize) and get some exercise.

2. Drink more water

As we eat better and exercise more, another health problem comes into focus: chronic dehydration.

Drink plenty of water to make it easier for your heart to pump blood. (Pxhere.com)

Sixty percent of our body is water, so better hydration is beneficial to many bodily systems ― including circulation. Keeping the body hydrated helps the heart more easily pump blood through the blood vessels to the muscles. It helps the muscles work more efficiently, effectively reducing the heart stress on well-hydrated individuals.

A myriad of problems results from dehydration, including muscle cramps, fatigue, headaches, and immune system dysfunction, just to name a few. Take your water bottle to work or school, fill it several times a day, and enjoy the benefits of drinking water. The cost is almost nothing, while the benefits are enormous.

3. Remember your annual check-up

Annual check-ups are important. (Pxhere.com)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person health examinations and preventative studies were canceled. Now is the time to make sure you see your health care provider to get a thorough physical examination and recommended tests (blood work, x-rays, etc). These include screenings for diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases of the heart.

In addition to annual check-ups, don’t forget any important screening tests for your demographic group, such as a colonoscopy or mammogram. As the pandemic wanes, we are starting to see patients returning for evaluation. Unfortunately, we are detecting advanced health problems that were ignored during the pandemic. The treatment for these ignored problems will be more demanding, aggressive, expensive ― and possibly less successful.

 

See your healthcare provider soon to get a thorough physical exam, and recommended tests to prevent any avoidable health problems.

4. Quit smoking

Heart attacks are side affects from vaping and legalized recreational marijuana. (Pxhere.com)

The U.S. has done an amazing job to decrease cigarette smoking. The detrimental health effects of smoking are profound, well-documented, and affect every system in the body.

 

In the last few years, however, vaping and legalized recreational marijuana use have eroded our progress. Heart attacks are among the many side effects of smoking, which also include oral cancers, lung cancers, strokes and COPD (emphysema). Chemicals used in popular vape flavors like clove, mint and vanilla can harm blood vessel cells that help keep the heart healthy.

Make 2023 the year to not light up or vape.

5. Sleep

Getting seven to nine hours of sleet every night is another healthy step. (Pxhere.com)

One additional concern to mention: we all need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. This might mean turning off the TV, not surfing the internet as long, or putting down our video games.

Studies show short sleep duration or poor sleep quality is associated with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and atherosclerosis. Habitual short sleep increases the chance of cardiovascular events.

Sleep also keeps us alert and attentive for the following day. Get a good night’s sleep, so the following day is yours to conquer!

Ronald G. Grifka, MD, FAAP, FACC, FSCAI is the Chief Medical Officer of University of Michigan Health-West, and Cardiologist at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital

With agreement in place, Metro Health begins work to offer new cardiovascular services

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , , ,
Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, which will soon become University of Michigan – West, will be adding cardiovascular services with a new agreement between the health facility and Mercy Health Saint Mary’s and Mercy Health Muskegon. (Supplied)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Work is underway at Metro Health – University of Michigan Health Hospital campus in Wyoming to accommodate new cardiovascular services now that a joint operating agreement has been finalized.

Peter Hahn, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health (Supplied)

On July 21, Metro Health (which is becoming University of Michigan Health – West), Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, and Mercy Health Muskegon finalized the agreement to form the Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan. Under this agreement, the network will be providing advance cardiovascular services such as coronary artery bypass surgery, cardiac valve repair or replacement, and repair for birth defects. The network also will utilize the clinical expertise of University of Michigan Health’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center, one of the nation’s highest-rated centers for cardiology and heart surgery, and the No. 1-rated program in the state. The services will be offered at Metro Health.

Dr. Peter Hahn, CEO of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, said the network is envisioned as the region’s leading program for open-heart, structural heart and advanced electrophysiology services.

“This will show what is possible through innovative regional collaboration, working in tandem with one of the highest-ranked heart programs in the nation, University of Michigan Health,” Hahn said.

Network partners have selected key leadership to advance their plans, which include expanding open- heart surgery availability in the Grand Rapids market, adding choice to the largest population center in the state currently with only a single open-heart program.

The network’s inaugural executive director will be Dr. Himanshu J. Patel, a U-M cardiac surgeon, Joe D. Morris Collegiate Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Section Head of Adult Cardiac Surgery at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. The administrative director will be Kristine Todd, clinical service director for heart and vascular services at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s. The network also announced the appointment of two associate medical directors: Dr. Matthew Sevensma of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, and Dr. Eugene Chung of Michigan Medicine.

Dr. Himanshu J. Patel, executive director for the Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan

Patel said the network builds on a strong history of cardiovascular collaboration each of the partners has established with University of Michigan Health.

“This initiative is based on each partner’s overarching goal of providing not only the highest quality care, but also choice for the patients we serve in west Michigan,” Patel said. “To accomplish this goal, for the fastest-growing part of our state we will also leverage the rich expertise already present at University of Michigan’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center.”

Physicians will confer on cases in a collaborative approach. This is similar to the tumor boards established by the Cancer Network of West Michigan, which the same partners established last year to provide broader regional access to advanced, state-of-the-art, comprehensive diagnosis, treatment and support.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year issued a certificate of need authorizing open-heart procedures at the Wyoming site. Later phases of the network’s plans call for a dedicated facility.

All hospital providers and staff will remain employed by their respective health systems, and no staff reductions will take place as a result of this agreement.

Safe travels for troubled tickers

3-bottom, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, Travel, , ,
Know where to seek medical help quickly on vacation. Immediate care is especially critical in the event of a heart problem. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Headed out on vacation? Beware of heart attack: It’s the leading cause of natural death among travelers.


If you have heart attack symptoms on the road, getting immediate medical care can improve your odds of long-term survival, according to a study presented Saturday at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, in Malaga, Spain.


“If you are traveling and experience heart attack symptoms—such as pain in the chest, throat, neck, back, stomach or shoulders—that lasts for more than 15 minutes, call an ambulance without delay,” study author Dr. Ryota Nishio said in a society news release.


“Our study shows that long-term outcomes after a heart attack while traveling can be good if you get prompt treatment,” added Nishio, who works in the cardiology department at Juntendo University Shizuoka Hospital in Izunokuni, Japan.


For the study, the researchers examined data on more than 2,500 patients who had a heart attack and rapid treatment with a stent (percutaneous coronary intervention) between 1999 and 2015 at the hospital. It’s located on the Izu Peninsula, a popular tourist destination near Mount Fuji, and a regional center for percutaneous coronary intervention.


Patients who were traveling tended to be younger than other patients and had a higher prevalence of heart attacks due to a blockage in a major artery to the heart, the investigators found.


The researchers followed the patients for up to 16 years, comparing death rates among different groups. The median follow-up period was 5.3 years—meaning half were tracked longer, half for less time.


During the follow-up period, local patients had a much higher rate of death from all causes (25 percent) than travelers (17 percent), mainly due to cancer. But the two groups had similar rates of death from heart-related causes.


“It is important that, when you are over the immediate emergency phase, and return home, you see your doctor to find out how you can reduce your risk of a second event by improving your lifestyle and potentially taking preventive medication,” Nishio said.


Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


A closer look at a complex heart

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Education, Health, Local Faces, , ,

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

By Sue Thoms, Spectrum Health Beat

Photos by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

 

The image of Luke Carpenter’s heart seemed to float off the screen, a hologram in red and blue.

 

With flicks of a stylus, the heart moved forward, rotated left and right, and then settled back into position among the ribs.

 

For Luke, a 15-year-old from Middleville, Michigan, the virtual image matches the reality of his life.

 

For the specialists at the Congenital Heart Center at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, it’s a roadmap that helps them plan the best way to fix what ails him.

 

The 3D imaging software, True 3D Viewer by EchoPixel Inc., is the latest high-tech tool used by the congenital heart team to understand the complex anatomy of a beating heart.

 

The physicians used scans of Luke’s heart to create the virtual image, which they consulted as they decided whether to do surgery, and how to prepare for the operation.

‘Tired pretty quick’

Luke, the son of Pam and Jason Carpenter, was born with several rare congenital heart defects, including dextrocardia, a condition in which the heart is situated on the right side of the chest, instead of the left. And he had transposition of the great arteries—which means the two major blood vessels that carry blood from the heart were switched.

 

Photo by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

By the time he entered Thornapple Kellogg High School last fall, Luke had undergone four open-heart surgeries. Surgeons patched holes in his heart, replaced the mitral valve and rerouted major blood vessels.

 

The fixes helped him grow and thrive in school and activities. He couldn’t play contact sports because of the blood thinners he took, but he loved to watch football and basketball. And he played golf and joined the high school team.

 

One day, he would like to become an athletic trainer for sports teams.

 

In the fall of his freshman year, however, he noticed difficulty in keeping up the same level of activity.

 

“I’d get tired pretty quick,” he said. “I would feel like (my heart) was beating really fast.”

 

“He was fine (when he was) resting,” his mom said. “But when he was running around the yard or doing something even mildly active, his heart would be pounding really hard.”

 

His pediatric cardiologist, Jeffrey Schneider, MD, consulted Joseph Vettukattil, MD, an interventional pediatric cardiologist and the co-director of the congenital heart center.

Pioneering a solution

The congenital heart team focused on the tube that had been placed in Luke’s heart to connect the right side of the heart to the lung arteries. A surgeon first created the conduit when he was 14 months old because he was born without a pulmonary artery. A surgeon replaced it when Luke turned 9.

 

Dr. Vettukattil examined the structure in a heart catheterization procedure. He hoped to use a balloon catheter to expand the tube and improve blood flow.

 

But he discovered the conduit lay between the heart and the breast bone, a tight spot that compressed the tube. The congenital heart team determined he needed open-heart surgery to replace the tube—and to place it in a different spot.

 

Getting a clear picture of Luke’s unique heart became crucial to planning the surgery.

 

“In a complex heart like this, when the heart is on the right side of the chest, it is important for the surgeon to orient themselves,” Dr. Vettukattil said.

 

A pioneer in 3D imaging techniques, Dr. Vettukattil used scans of Luke’s heart to create a 3D printed model, printed in a clear plastic resin.

Photo by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

Then, he contacted researchers in Michigan State University’s biomedical engineering department, who printed a model in color, using shades of blue and red to distinguish the vessels and chambers of the heart as well as part of the sternum.

 

That model also was used to create the image of the heart viewed on the Echo Pixel monitor. Wearing 3D glasses, the physicians examined the heart and its position within Luke’s chest.

 

“When you do the Echo Pixel model, you are visualizing the whole chest,” Dr. Vettukattil said. “You have a much better spatial understanding—the whole organ system of the patient is represented intact. And you are visualizing it in three dimensions.”

 

Marcus Haw, MD, pediatric heart surgeon and co-director of the congenital heart center, used the 3D images to plan the operation.

 

“As soon as I reviewed the printed model, I was able to show Luke and his parents the compressed conduit,” he said.

 

“More importantly, it showed that there was an extension of his heart cavity that would give room for a larger conduit—and that the coronary artery was not in the way of the potential route for the conduit.”

 

On April 16, 2018, he placed a new tube between the right side of the heart and lung arteries, this time routing it across the top of Luke’s heart. He also replaced the mitral valve with a larger one.

‘Means everything to us’

Two and a half weeks later, Luke arrived at the congenital heart center for his follow-up visit.

 

“You’re healing nicely,” said physician assistant Sarah Yarger, PA, as she examined the incision.

 

As he recovered from surgery, Luke said he was slowly regaining energy and appetite. He received approval to return to school the next week.

 

He hoped the new connector in his heart would make a difference. He looked forward to getting back on the golf course.

 

“I hope it will make me have more energy and able to do more things,” he said.

 

He had a chance to look at the colorful 3D model of his heart pre-surgery.

 

Photo by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

“It’s crazy,” he said, turning the heart over in his hands.

 

He pointed out the tube that lay compressed under the sternum—the one that had just been replaced.

 

For the specialists at the congenital heart center, the use of 3D imagery—including the printed model and the virtual image seen with 3D glasses—helps further the diagnosis and treatment of complex congenital heart defects.

 

“The capability to see the structures of the heart in this way is opening up new possibilities for patients who’ve previously been told there is no more we can do or that surgery is too dangerous,” Dr. Haw said.

 

The physicians continue to work on ways to better see the interrelated parts of a beating heart so they can fine-tune each patient’s treatment.

 

“That means everything to us,” Dr. Vettukattil said. “If we can use the best technology for the best treatment for our patients, that means a lot.”

 

Learn more about the nationally ranked cardiology and heart surgery care at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Congenital Heart Center. If you would like to support this lifesaving work, contact the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.