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According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide. How do you know if you are at risk?
In case of experiencing chest pain (sudden pain in the left side of the chest, below the nipple), especially after exercise, the patient must go to a cardiologist. He will make an electrocardiogram and will determine if a stress test is required.
Hospital Punta Pacifica has a Cardiovascular Center, whose main benefit is to have in one place, all the machines to diagnose heart diseases, some of them non invasive, that will precise the number one cardiovascular diseases in Panama.
This modern Center, is open to all cardiology doctors in the country, so they have the opportunity to serve their patients with last generation machinery and allow them to diagnoses cardiac diseases in a more accurate and precise way, making them safe for both adults and children; with the most advanced medical technology. In addition, as part of the system security, the Centre has a crash cart, with drugs, defibrillators, and everything needed for any eventuality and with hi-tech equipments, which are listed below:
Echocardiograph:
Considered the most modern equipment in the market for this type of study, unique in Panama, it boasts an impressive resolution that allows to provide more accurate diagnoses.
Echocardiography uses sound waves to produce an image of the heart and see how it works. Depending on the type of echocardiographic study made, you can determine the size, shape and movement of the heart muscle. This study may also show how heart valves work and how blood circulates through the heart. Echocardiography may also provide information on the arteries. It also allows you to use some advanced modalities such as three-dimensional valve reconstructions; this is very important to diagnose diseases, because parameters in the search of the ventricular synchronicity in patient with heart failure cases, can be obtained.
Stress test:
The stress test is a common study, used to diagnose coronary artery disease. It lets see how the heart works during exercise. Stress tests are also called physical exercise stress test, ergometry, effort electrocardiography or ECG stress tolerance tests.
During the stress test, you can also perform a echocardiography (called 'stress echocardiography') or radioisotopes may be injected into the bloodstream (called 'stress test with isotopes'). With these studies is possible to obtain more information about the structure and blood flow through the heart.
In Punta Pacifica Cardiovascular Center, we have two alternatives to do the stress test: the endless band, recommended for young patients and healthy adults, and the bike, which is more commonly used in elderly adults or sick people, it being more comfortable for the patient.
Dynamic electrocardiography test or Holter:
Holter study offers a continuous reading of the rate and rhythm of the heart for a period of 24 hours (or more). Holter monitor can check frequency and heart rate at the time the patient feels chest pain or have symptoms of irregular heartbeat (called arrhythmia). The doctor can print the data corresponding to the time at which the patient felt symptoms. Reading these data allows the physician to determine the nature of the patient heart problem.
Portable Electrocardiography:
The electrocardiogram (ECG), is a routine study performed to observe the electrical activity of the heart. ECG may provide much information on the heart and how it’s working. With this study is possible to find out more about heart rhythm, size and functioning of the heart chambers and muscle. The electrocardiogram of a healthy person presents a particular pattern. When changes occur in that pattern, your doctor can determine if a problem exists. For example, during a heart attack, the electrical activity of the heart changes and that change is reflected in the ECG.
Vital Signs Monitor:
It´s use to monitor the patient's vital signs.
Tilt Table Test or Tilt Test:
This is a diagnostic test for patients who have had loss of consciousness (syncope or fainting) or suspicion of it. It allows you to check on the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) on the central nervous system, and the heart response to them, with postural changes of the body itself. It helps to detect the cause of syncope or fainting suffered by children and young people, especially female adolescents. With this test we can reproduce an episode and determine what type of syncope it is.
With this vanguard technology and its medical team of, Hospital Punta Pacifica continues firmly in the leading position in the development and implementation of medicine in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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