eHealth Connection | Cooper University Hospital

Study Shows Implantable Heart Device Increases Patient’s Quality of Life

CRT-D offers doctors clue to relationship between congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias.

Barbara Anglosi’s implanted heart device and defibrillator works so well she doesn’t even notice when it activates.

Mrs. Anglosi, 75, of Marlton, New Jersey, had a bi-ventricular device (InSync Sentry from Medtronic, Inc., in Minneapolis, Minnesota) implanted in April 2005 after experiencing shortness of breath related to cardiomyopathy. Now she can do all of her daily activities, like walking and climbing stairs, with ease again. The CRT defibrillator device has responded to her cardiac episodes without her ever realizing. Read the full story

Preventing Heart Disease in Women

By now, most women know that heart disease is not a problem limited to men. What most women don’t realize is that it is a disease that affects every woman.

This shift in direction was recently outlined in the American Heart Association’s 2007 Guidelines for Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke in Women. Read the full story

The sweating starts first. Nausea follows. Then comes a heaviness in the chest that won’t go away. Something is wrong and you need to get help.

“Nearly 1.5 million people suffer heart attacks each year in the U.S., and almost no one has a plan for what to do or where to go,” says Perry J. Weinstock, M.D., Director of Clinical Cardiology at Cooper University Hospital and past president of the South Jersey Regional Board of Directors of the American Heart Association. Read the full story

The message is inescapable.

Women have different cardiac symptoms than men.

Women get heart disease later than men.

Women may have a poorer outcome with angioplasty and heart surgery.

Women are different. Read the full story

A flu shot is a good idea for everyone, but certain groups of people – such as those with cardiovascular disease (CVD) – should make an extra effort to be vaccinated. Unfortunately those with CVD are more likely to die from complications caused by the flu than others. About 36,000 people die of the flu and more than 200,000 are hospitalized from flu complications each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Read what Perry J. Weinstock, M.D., FACC, Director of Clinical Cardiology at Cooper University Hospital, says about a new recommendation from the American Heart Association.
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Heart patients, have you told your doctor that you use herbs or vitamin supplements?

To be safe, check in with your doctor. Anything you take into your body has an effect – whether good or bad – and herbs and vitamin supplements are no different. They could interact with your prescription medications, possibly worsening your cardiovascular problems or increasing the drugs’ side effects. By that same token, replacing prescription medications with herbs may put you at an even greater risk. Read the full story