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Practicing Good Heart Health
Heart disease describes a range of conditions that affect your heart. During this heart health month, Dr. D will discuss some of the most common ones, prevention, and when to see your doctor.
Featured Speaker:
Learn more about Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD is a cardiologist and electrophysiologist who specializes in heart rhythm problems.Learn more about Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD
Transcription:
Practicing Good Heart Health
Caitlin Whyte: Heart health is vital with one in every four deaths in the United States being a result of a heart disease. Dr. Subodh Devabhaktuni is a cardiologist and electrophysiologist who tells us this episode. When you need to talk to your doctor, he specializes in heart rhythm problems at UAMF is UAS health talk the podcast from the university of Arkansas for medical sciences.
I'm Caitlin Whyte doctor to start off. What are the most common heart diseases you deal with in your practice?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: So the question, what I would say is I'm a pro physiologist by training and that's what I do. So being electrophysiologist means I deal with the heart rhythm problems. Uh, the most common with them.
Problem I see is atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heart for them. That's. Very prevalent in patients of age, group, 60 or above. It's very common problem. We see the main problem with that is the stroke risk. And we put them on blood thinners. If they meet certain criteria to prevent a stroke, that's one rhythm problem with I see commonly and other heart for them.
Problem I see is abnormally hard for them is coming from the top chambers in the heart, in the bottom chambers in the heart. These are all the common to them problems. I see. In addition to that, being a cardiologist, um, before being electrophysiologist, uh, I see problems like patients with blockages in the heart blood vessels, or like any leaky valve are type valves like that.
These are the problems we see and other problem with these patients with passing out, we call it as syncope or lightheadedness. And some patients complain of palpitations, which is racing in the heart. These, again, the syncope and palpitations could be related to heart rhythm problems, or it can be related to abnormally hot structure, like hot function being low that can lead to people, having dizziness or passing out from abdominal heart rhythm problems and also the heart doesn't pump well, so they have dizziness, shortness of breath and swelling in the leg.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, what advice do you find yourself giving most often to your patients?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: The advice I would say, eat healthy food, watch what you're eating, and then try to exercise at least 30 to 45 minutes, three to four times in a week. I tried to practice this myself prior to educating to the patients because I need to take care of myself before I tell the patients of what to do and what not to do. And other important things are, if they need medications, take the medications regularly. And I would say, keep up appointments with the doctors.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, can you describe the cardiovascular team at UA Ms. Health and all the different subspecialties within the practice?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: We have a great team at ums cardiology that our division is growing. Uh, rapidly to provide the state of art care in the state. Arkansas, we have a general cardiologist who deal with problems like coronary artery disease, which is blockages in the heart or hypertension, and also other problems like leaky valve or a tight valve.
We have my colleagues who specialize in this valuable hard problems either. To see how bad the valve problem is. We do echocardiograms, which is an ultrasound of the cart, and also some other modalities like CT scan to see of a better look and also a heart MRI to have a better look at what the problem is.
So these are the common problems we see and then myself and I have two other colleagues who take it off heart for them problems. We take it or pretty much any heart rhythm problem. The, the. A common rhythm problem is simply one. Is it flatter? Which goes in the top right it'll chamber, or it can be very complex problems.
Like if the one we discussed before the irregular heart rhythm, and also sometimes it can have dangerous heart for them coming from the bottom chamber in the heart that also we deal with the procedure called ablation. It's a minimally invasive procedure. We do it under moderate sedation or general anesthesia, depending on the complexity.
Uh, we put catheters and said the heart going up the veins from the groin into the heart there isn't, we don't crack open the chest. It's a minimal invasive procedure to take care of this heart for them problems. In addition to that, we recently are smart enough to recruit another faculty member who deals with it's called structural heart disease.
Like these valves and the patients are not a candidate for surgery. Are there high risk for surgical operations, they would go for these procedures where they can replace the valve with these minimally invasive procedures. And also in patients who have problems with bleeding, when they're on blood thinners.
There are certain types of devices where we can put inside the heart where these clots form, so that the clocks do not go into the circulation and cause stroke, these devices, we do them and also the pacemakers and defibrillators in patients who need them. We do those. And I also do. There's a new technology called.
Physiologic pacing, which is basing the normal conduction system of the heart, which has been around from seventies, but it came into limelight in the last six, seven years. We are doing that too at ums. And pretty much by the end of the year, we have advanced heart care like patients with artificial heart and heart transplants that we'll be starting to do them soon.
We have a surgeon Dr. J Bama who will be spearheading that advanced heart care program.
Caitlin Whyte: Wonderful. Well, doctor, is there anything else you'd like to share about your department or your team at UAS health?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: Yeah. As, as a member of the EMS cardiology department, I would say that we will probably be one of the best centers in future.
And we currently, as we discussed before we offer all the treatment modalities for all the cardiac problems and we are excellent team, we work with each other. Very closely. If anyone has any problems with, to the heart, we would be happy to see them in our clinic. And we will be taking care of them very quickly in an efficient way.
Caitlin Whyte: Great. Well, doctor, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing this information. If you're looking for even more information, visit U a M S health.com. And thank you for listening today. This has been you AMS health. Talk the podcast from the university of Arkansas for medical sciences. I'm Caitlin Whyte.
Practicing Good Heart Health
Caitlin Whyte: Heart health is vital with one in every four deaths in the United States being a result of a heart disease. Dr. Subodh Devabhaktuni is a cardiologist and electrophysiologist who tells us this episode. When you need to talk to your doctor, he specializes in heart rhythm problems at UAMF is UAS health talk the podcast from the university of Arkansas for medical sciences.
I'm Caitlin Whyte doctor to start off. What are the most common heart diseases you deal with in your practice?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: So the question, what I would say is I'm a pro physiologist by training and that's what I do. So being electrophysiologist means I deal with the heart rhythm problems. Uh, the most common with them.
Problem I see is atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heart for them. That's. Very prevalent in patients of age, group, 60 or above. It's very common problem. We see the main problem with that is the stroke risk. And we put them on blood thinners. If they meet certain criteria to prevent a stroke, that's one rhythm problem with I see commonly and other heart for them.
Problem I see is abnormally hard for them is coming from the top chambers in the heart, in the bottom chambers in the heart. These are all the common to them problems. I see. In addition to that, being a cardiologist, um, before being electrophysiologist, uh, I see problems like patients with blockages in the heart blood vessels, or like any leaky valve are type valves like that.
These are the problems we see and other problem with these patients with passing out, we call it as syncope or lightheadedness. And some patients complain of palpitations, which is racing in the heart. These, again, the syncope and palpitations could be related to heart rhythm problems, or it can be related to abnormally hot structure, like hot function being low that can lead to people, having dizziness or passing out from abdominal heart rhythm problems and also the heart doesn't pump well, so they have dizziness, shortness of breath and swelling in the leg.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, what advice do you find yourself giving most often to your patients?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: The advice I would say, eat healthy food, watch what you're eating, and then try to exercise at least 30 to 45 minutes, three to four times in a week. I tried to practice this myself prior to educating to the patients because I need to take care of myself before I tell the patients of what to do and what not to do. And other important things are, if they need medications, take the medications regularly. And I would say, keep up appointments with the doctors.
Caitlin Whyte: Now, can you describe the cardiovascular team at UA Ms. Health and all the different subspecialties within the practice?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: We have a great team at ums cardiology that our division is growing. Uh, rapidly to provide the state of art care in the state. Arkansas, we have a general cardiologist who deal with problems like coronary artery disease, which is blockages in the heart or hypertension, and also other problems like leaky valve or a tight valve.
We have my colleagues who specialize in this valuable hard problems either. To see how bad the valve problem is. We do echocardiograms, which is an ultrasound of the cart, and also some other modalities like CT scan to see of a better look and also a heart MRI to have a better look at what the problem is.
So these are the common problems we see and then myself and I have two other colleagues who take it off heart for them problems. We take it or pretty much any heart rhythm problem. The, the. A common rhythm problem is simply one. Is it flatter? Which goes in the top right it'll chamber, or it can be very complex problems.
Like if the one we discussed before the irregular heart rhythm, and also sometimes it can have dangerous heart for them coming from the bottom chamber in the heart that also we deal with the procedure called ablation. It's a minimally invasive procedure. We do it under moderate sedation or general anesthesia, depending on the complexity.
Uh, we put catheters and said the heart going up the veins from the groin into the heart there isn't, we don't crack open the chest. It's a minimal invasive procedure to take care of this heart for them problems. In addition to that, we recently are smart enough to recruit another faculty member who deals with it's called structural heart disease.
Like these valves and the patients are not a candidate for surgery. Are there high risk for surgical operations, they would go for these procedures where they can replace the valve with these minimally invasive procedures. And also in patients who have problems with bleeding, when they're on blood thinners.
There are certain types of devices where we can put inside the heart where these clots form, so that the clocks do not go into the circulation and cause stroke, these devices, we do them and also the pacemakers and defibrillators in patients who need them. We do those. And I also do. There's a new technology called.
Physiologic pacing, which is basing the normal conduction system of the heart, which has been around from seventies, but it came into limelight in the last six, seven years. We are doing that too at ums. And pretty much by the end of the year, we have advanced heart care like patients with artificial heart and heart transplants that we'll be starting to do them soon.
We have a surgeon Dr. J Bama who will be spearheading that advanced heart care program.
Caitlin Whyte: Wonderful. Well, doctor, is there anything else you'd like to share about your department or your team at UAS health?
Subodh Devabhaktuni, MD: Yeah. As, as a member of the EMS cardiology department, I would say that we will probably be one of the best centers in future.
And we currently, as we discussed before we offer all the treatment modalities for all the cardiac problems and we are excellent team, we work with each other. Very closely. If anyone has any problems with, to the heart, we would be happy to see them in our clinic. And we will be taking care of them very quickly in an efficient way.
Caitlin Whyte: Great. Well, doctor, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing this information. If you're looking for even more information, visit U a M S health.com. And thank you for listening today. This has been you AMS health. Talk the podcast from the university of Arkansas for medical sciences. I'm Caitlin Whyte.