Excellent question.When it comes to heart disease or heart attacks, minutes could be the difference between life and death. Most people are familiar with the TV version of a heart attack, with a man clutching h... continue reading  about  What are the most ignored signs of heart disease?

Your question is at the heart of an important and common issue that cardiologists deal with regularly. When is chest pain a serious problem related to the heart? When is chest pain from something other than the... continue reading  about  I'm having chest pains, but all my tests related to the heart have come up clear. What could be the causing this pain?

Your question has many layers to it. The short answer is "you are not necessarily safe from a heart attack". Let me explain:A person's likelihood of a heart attack is calculated in large, population-based studi... continue reading  about  I have really poor health: obesity, severe vitamin D deficiency, bone and joint problems, shortness of breath upon exertion. I do have perfect blood pressure and good cholesterol. Am I safe from a heart attack?

Feeling your heart beat at night can be very scary. It sounds like you are pretty fit and healthy. It would be very rare, indeed, for palpitations at night to turn out to be something dangerous or worrisome. Sy... continue reading  about  I’m a 42-year-old woman. I run three to four times a week. My blood pressure is around 115/74. But I have horrifying heart palpitations at night. I’m exhausted. I did a 24-hour Holter monitor and am waiting for an event monitor. What’s happening?

PSVTs, or paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias, are generally quite bothersome, but almost never life-threatening. The only time when PSVTs can pose serious danger is in the rare setting of Wolff-Parkinson-... continue reading  about  I have occasional rapid heartbeats, which my doctor recently diagnosed as PSVD. But I have no other heart conditions. So he did not suggest any type of treatment except to avoid certain things like alcohol. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Heredity does put one at extra risk for many types of heart disease, most commonly coronary disease, and some other uncommon heart conditions such as cardiomyopathy. From your doctor's advice, the former most l... continue reading  about  A number of my relatives have heart disease so I've been told by my doctor to watch what I eat, exercise, etc. My question is: why does one's heredity put a person at extra risk for heart disease?

A fat pad can be a normal occurrence on the sac (pericardium) that surrounds the heart. In certain cases in can obstruct the view of the right middle lobe. If there is enough clinical suspicion (by symptoms or ... continue reading  about  I had a chest x-ray because of allergy symptoms. The doctor who read the x-ray said because of a cardiac fat pad in my right lobe, it was hard to tell if I had pneumonia. What is a fat pad, is this something that should concern me, and can I exercise?

When the heart beat starts to slow down, or when the conduction starts to block every so often, sometimes it is because a medication is stressing the heart's electrical system. If there are no medications to ac... continue reading  about  My heart has been skipping and I'm feeling dizzy. I went in for testing and was diagnosed with second degree heart block. The doctor said that if it goes to third degree, he might suggest a pacemaker. What can I do to avoid moving to third degree?

Yes, there’s a minimally invasive procedure that uses a catheter -- TAVR -- that may be a better choice for some people who are at moderate to high risk of complications from open heart surgery. TAVR... continue reading  about  I’ve been diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and my doctor says I will need to get a valve replacement. Can heart valves be replaced without open heart surgery?