News & Events: Media Releases

Diagnosing and Treating Heart Disease

Dr Robert Lew

May 2005

The bad news is that Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in Australia. The good news is that many of these deaths can be avoided.

New procedures and advances in diagnostic testing are enabling cardiologists to detect and correct the effects of heart disease, often without invasive surgery.

• Stress testing is an effective, non-invasive method commonly used to screen for heart problems.
• Coronary Angiography is a procedure by which cardiologists can study the arteries in the heart.

Several years ago blockages in the heart’s arteries required an open heart bypass operation to correct. While this procedure is still performed for certain conditions, a number of less involved alternatives have been developed.

• Angioplasty is a procedure that opens the blocked artery with a balloon.
• A Stent can be inserted into an artery to keep it open. A stent is a small metal tube that expands into place at the site of the blockage.

These diagnostic and interventional procedures are performed in Cardiac Catherization Laboratories in hospitals, such as the one at Peninsula Private Hospital. Patients receiving these treatments usually spend one night in hospital, returning home the next day, able to return to work almost immediately.

Of course the best way to look after your heart is through a healthy diet, regular exercise and no smoking but if you do have heart disease it is good to know that ways of diagnosing and treating you are improving all the time and are available to you locally at Peninsula Private Hospital.