Cardiology

Shortness of breath
This is usually progressive and exerted by effort, which can lead to an increase in the number of pillows at night and not being able to lie flat. Since this symptom may occur in some lung diseases, it can be confused with these diseases.

Edema
It is the accumulation of water and salt in the body due to heart failure. It usually occurs in the legs, in some cases in the abdomen, and rarely in the arms. It has two sides and collapses by pressing. This can also occur in kidney and liver diseases.

Night Urination
It is the excretion of excess water and salt accumulated in the body during the daytime in the urine during sleep hours. It is caused by two or more toilets and an increase in urine volume.

Fainting
Fainting due to heart disease is usually short-term, occurs suddenly and has a complete loss of consciousness. The patient does not respond to any stimulus. Usually there is no incontinence, no foam coming from the mouth, and no contraction in the arms and legs. The patient gathers himself quickly. This is usually recurrent and progressive. It is most often caused by irregularities in the work of the heart, so it is urgent to intervene when someone with a diagnosis of heart disease faints.

Palpitation
It can be felt in the chest or abdomen due to exacerbation of heartbeat. Normal heartbeats can sometimes be felt. In particular, palpitations that occur faster than normal, irregular, accompanied by sweating or fainting are signs of heart disease.

Bruising
It is the bluish discoloration that usually occurs in the fingers and toes and lips, due to insufficient oxygen transport to these tissues. Congenital heart diseases, cardiomyopathies, can be caused by reasons such as valve diseases, as well as severe lung diseases can cause bruising.

Quick Fatigue
There are many causes of rapid fatigue, but it can be an early symptom of heart failure. It is important in the elderly and in patients with coronary heart disease or valve disease.

EXAMINATIONS USED IN HEART DISEASES
ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY
It is a unique examination performed for the structural and functional evaluation of the heart and is non-invasive. There are two dimensional, M mode, Doppler (Spectral and Color) echo types and transesophageal, stress echocardiography. The tomographic images of the heart are taken from different sections with the help of a probe after the gel is applied to the chest in order to improve the image quality. After echocardiography, information is obtained about the condition of the heart’s pump function, the structure and function of the valves, and the structural abnormalities of the heart.

In the Doppler echo, the currents in the heart give images in various colors according to their direction. The presence and severity of stenosis and leakage in the heart valves can be learned with this method. It is also important in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease and heart muscle diseases.

EFFORT TEST
Exercise test is a test which is planned to increase the heart load gradually on a treadmill called treadmill and it is concluded by continuous monitoring of ECG during the test and recording at regular intervals. This test is most commonly used for the diagnosis of coronary insufficiency (diseases of the arteries that feed the heart) or for the follow-up of people with this disease. Apart from this, determination of exercise adequacy, investigation of blood pressure during exercise, examination of rhythm and conduction disorders that may arise with the exercise and the cause of fainting can also be performed.

TENSION HOLTER
The device that provides regular measurement and recording of blood pressure for 24 hours is called blood pressure holter. The device consists of two parts, the cuff attached to the arm and the recording section. The data are analyzed by digitizing and many measurements of the daily course of blood pressure can thus be evaluated. Blood pressure holter examination can be performed to examine daily blood pressure changes, to see the effectiveness of drug-resistant hypertension and drug therapy.

RHYTHM HOLTER
It is an examination performed by recording the electrical activity of the heart from three channels for 24 hours. Recordings taken with the holter device used are transferred to the computer and analyzed and many parameters related to heart rhythm are evaluated. This examination is most commonly used to evaluate patients with problems in the electrical activity of the heart.