Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 02/17/2009
Discomfort
Patients report little or no discomfort during the procedure. Some people may feel tired after the first few treatments, but this loss of energy improves over time.
Lifestyle changes
To manage heart...
disease, the patient needs to make several lifestyle changes before and after the procedure, including:
- Quitting smoking. Smoking causes damage to blood vessels, increases the patient's blood pressure and heart rate, and decreases the amount of oxygen available in the blood.
- Managing weight. Maintaining a healthy weight, by watching portion sizes and exercising, is important. Being overweight increases the work of the heart.
- Participating in an exercise program. The cardiac rehabilitation exercise program is usually tailored for the patient, who will be supervised by professionals.
- Making dietary changes. Patients should eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, grains, and non-fat or low-fat dairy products, and reduce fats to less than 30% of all calories. Alcoholic beverages should be limited or avoided.
- Taking medications as prescribed. Aspirin and other heart medications may be prescribed, and the patient may need to take these medications for life.
- Following up with health care providers. The patient needs to visit the physician regularly to control risk factors.
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Other Information
External counterpulsation (ECP) is a procedure performed on individuals with ischemic cardiomyopathy in order to diminish the symptoms of their ischemia. In various studies, ECP has been shown to relieve angina1,2, improve exercise tolerance³, and decrease the degree of ischemia in a cardiac stress test2,3.ECP is a technique while EECP. IECP. SECP are all brand names of companies manufacturing them.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_external_counterpulsation
Other Information
If you need heart surgery, you don't want a surgeon who only got a C in medical school. The same principle applies in helping people with mental illnesses.
-Ken Duckworth
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