Feeling your heartbeat in your stomach can be a sign that an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) has formed and has gotten larger. The abdominal aneurysm occurs when a portion of the aorta enlarges like a balloon. The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body and supplies blood to the pelvis, abdomen and legs….
This post is also available in English El dolor de espalda superior puede ser un signo de un ataque al corazón, especialmente en las mujeres. Tal vez pasaste un poco más de tiempo haciendo trabajos de jardinera durante el fin de semana, o tal vez moviste algunos muebles al depósito. Ahora te duele la espalda….
Daylight saving time gets blamed for as much as a 24% spike in heart attacks the Monday after we move clocks ahead in the spring. But does moving clocks back in the fall have the same effect? There’s good news. The same study that found the big increase in the spring heart attacks found the…
Before she became a nurse, Kristen Wieder managed Lynn’s Paradise Café in Louisville. There, she befriended a couple whose son had leukemia. A year after the boy died, his parents met for lunch with his oncology nurses at the landmark Highlands restaurant, which has since closed. The bond between the boy’s nurses and his parents…
Bill Howard was loving life after retirement. In 2007, after 32 years with Ford Motor Co.’s Louisville Assembly Plant, he and his wife, Sharon, had purchased their lake home on Rough River in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. The Army veteran was enjoying fishing and helping friends with projects — keeping himself just busy enough. But in…
A device recently approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is changing the way heart specialists can care for patients with A-fib. A-fib is a potentially serious heart rhythm irregularity that raises the risk of stroke and heart failure. Heart specialists at Norton Heart &…
Healthy blood pressure for women and men is generally a systolic number under 120 and a diastolic number under 80. High blood pressure (also called HBP or hypertension) is when the force of blood flowing through your body is consistently too high. Your heart has to work harder to do its job. This can damage…
A minimally invasive mitral regurgitation treatment to repair the mitral valve is now available, giving a new option to patients who may not be able to tolerate conventional open heart surgery to fix the valve. Mitral valve regurgitation sometimes doesn’t need any treatment or can be treated with medication. In moderate to severe cases the…
You wouldn’t look at Robert Taylor and think he survived a stroke. The 56-year-old is a poster child for good health. He ran the Boston Marathon, completed three Ironman competitions — including the national championship — in one year, and has participated in countless triathlons. Even a random 100-mile bike ride on a Saturday morning…
Cardiologists have another tool to help determine how to help patients with symptoms of coronary artery disease, by modeling the blood flow through their arteries to predict how cholesterol buildup might affect them. The added information can help determine whether patients would respond best to treatments that can include medication, minimally invasive placement of a…
UK HealthCare (UKHC) and Norton Heart & Vascular Institute are announcing a collaboration to expand advanced heart failure, ventricular assist device (VAD) placement and heart transplant services to Kentuckians. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Kentucky, and the commonwealth has one of the highest rates of heart disease in the country. Norton…
Carotid artery blockage treatment, typically medication at first and eventually surgery in more severe cases, can reduce the risk of stroke or worse. Plaque buildup in arteries that supply blood to the brain could cause serious damage if pieces break off and reach the brain. Carotid artery blockages cause up to a third of strokes,…