What are some cardiology advancements in treating heart disease [Video]

St. Luke’s has been caring for hearts in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa community for over 45 years. During that time, there have been many historic firsts and countless advancements in cardiac care. St. Luke’s Heart Care Clinic Dr. Fahed Al Darazi talks about how some of these advancements in treating heart disease and other cardiac concerns.

“Historically, a lot of people with some conditions didn’t have much option except to just live with their condition without treatments. And new technologies are now available to people to use at home, namely watches and monitoring devices. If somebody has a problem with their heart rhythm, they can self check at home and detects what could be the problem and share it with their physician. Primarily, we use 3-D imaging for valvular diseases for plugging devices like Watchmen we use it for mitral clip. We use it for aortic stenosis.

3-D imaging has helped us understand the structure of the heart a lot. And by doing so, we are able to treat different conditions and it’s becoming the mainstay of how we do structural heart disease treatments. Having a heart condition doesn’t mean they are doomed, and it doesn’t mean they’re gonna die in a couple of years. Because medical therapy with some of the procedures we have on hand we can make them live longer.”

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