General Introduction
As in the whole world, cardiovascular diseases in our country are the group of diseases that are the most common cause of all deaths in men and women.
The social and environmental changes caused by the technical developments since the 20th century have led to an increase in the incidence of degenerative diseases along with the increase in prolongation of human life.
Cardiovascular diseases, which are at the forefront of these diseases, are the cause of a large part of the morbidity and mortality burden seen in the population, starting from adult-middle age after a long latent period.
Excluding the patients, some of whom show clinical signs immediately after birth and generally with a significant underlying genetic anomaly, cardiovascular patients constitute the majority, including smoking/intensive alcohol use/sedentary life/abnormal increase in body weight/many factors that cause environmental physical and psychological stress is a risk factor.
By its nature, protection from these diseases, which become clinically obvious after a long period of time due to the influence of these factors, is the basic approach. For this purpose, it is aimed to prevent the development of the disease by modifying the risk with regular follow-up of people with one or more risk factors, or to reduce morbidity and mortality by medical and/or interventional methods in cases where the disease has been found to develop clinically.
Services offered in the cardiology department of our hospital for primary and secondary protection from morbidity and mortality caused by cardiovascular diseases:
1-ECG (Electrocardiography)
A graph of the electrical activity of the heart drawn on ECG paper and one of the most commonly used diagnostic methods of Cardiology, ECG is one of the only tools used to finalize the diagnosis and guide treatment in acutely developing cardiovascular diseases (such as coronary spasm/atherothrombosis or coronary dissection).
In addition, common ECG changes related to chronic cardiovascular diseases such as arterial hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, valvular heart disease, cardiac dysrhytmia or acute and chronic diseases such as pericarditis/myocarditis also provide information used in diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
2-Exercise ECG (Treadmill ) Test
It is a diagnostic method that provides useful information, especially in cases with a high risk of occlusive cardiovascular disease, by detecting the effort capacity as well as revealing possible pathological changes in heart rate, blood pressure and especially in the ECG recording.
In cases without contraindications for the exercise test, the result of this test, which is performed under the supervision of health personnel, guides the clinician in deciding which conservative, medical or interventional methods will be more beneficial for the follow-up and/or treatment of the person.
3-Transthoracic Two-Dimensional Echocardiography
TE (transthoracic echocardiography) examination, that is used to reveal the moving two-dimensional structure of the heart in real time with the reflection of ultrasound beams directed to the heart through the thorax, constitutes one of the basic imaging methods of cardiology. Echocardiography, which allows the detection of many cardiac functions in adults, including congenital heart diseases, in addition to structural pathologies related to the heart walls/heart chambers/heart valves and large vessels of the heart, is almost a magic eye in cardiology.
Echocardiography is one of the most used tests in diagnosis and treatment, as it is performed at the bedside and can be used safely in pregnant women/children or patients with implanted devices without any side effects such as ionizing radiation.
4-Ambulatory Blood Pressure or Heart Rhythm Monitoring (Blood Pressure Or Rhythm Holter)
Ambulatory blood pressure and heart rhythm monitoring devices (blood pressure or rhythm holter devices), which allow to be used in longer follow-ups when necessary, are frequently used in blood pressure and heart rhythm follow-ups in 24 hours as standard, and are used in continious or non-continuous clinical detection problems. It is a cardiological examination that can be very useful in the diagnosis of blood pressure or rhythm disorders.
Rhythm holter examination has a great value in dedecting many subclinical arrhythmias and guiding treatment in patients with white coat hypertension, which constitutes a substantial portion of hypertensive cases, recurrent palpitations as in the use of blood pressure holter test to detect labile hypertension (prehypertensive period), such as an increase in blood pressure values triggered by anxiety or only increased at night, dizziness, loss of consciousness, and transient or permanent stroke.
