Cardiovascular medicine is a treatment option for many people with chronic heart and vascular conditions, such as:
Preventing and detecting cardiovascular disease
Your care team also helps you stay healthy through cardiovascular disease prevention. If you have a family history of heart or vascular disease, your doctor may recommend testing. Your doctor may also prescribe medication to prevent symptoms from developing or getting worse.
Catching and treating cardiovascular disease early can make a big difference in your quality of life and longevity.
Medication for cardiovascular disease
Your doctor may recommend one or more cardiovascular medications, including drugs you take by mouth (orally) or infused through a vein (intravenously). These may include:
- Aldosterone antagonists help you urinate more often while preserving your potassium, a mineral that helps your body work properly. They may help people live longer while managing severe systolic heart failure, when the left ventricle can’t contract with enough strength.
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors widen blood vessels to lower blood pressure, improve blood flow and decrease the workload on the heart.
- Angiotensin II receptor blockers may be an alternative for people who can’t tolerate ACE inhibitors.
- Antiarrhythmic drugs help to maintain normal heart rhythm when the heart beats irregularly.
- Antiplatelet drugs prevent or break up blood clots in your blood vessels or heart that can lead to heart attack or stroke. Beta-blockers slow your heart rate and reduce blood pressure.
- Beta-blockers may also limit or reverse damage caused by systolic heart failure, when the left ventricle can’t contract with enough strength.
- Blood thinning medications help prevent the risk of stroke in patients with heart rhythm issues such as atrial fibrillation.
- Calcium channel blockers lower blood pressure by controlling how much or how fast calcium flows into the heart muscle and blood vessel walls.
- Digoxin, or digitalis, strengthens your heart muscle contractions and tends to slow the heartbeat. Digoxin reduces heart failure symptoms and treats heart rhythm problems.
- Diuretics (water pills) make you urinate more often to limit fluid buildup in your body. Diuretics also reduce fluid in your lungs so you can breathe more easily.
- Positive inotropes change the strength of your heart’s contraction to treat severe heart failure so you can feel better and stay out of the hospital. You receive inotropes through a vein.
- Statins help lower cholesterol levels in the blood to help prevent heart attack and stroke, even if your cholesterol is not particularly high.
- SLG2 inhibitors are a diabetes medication that can also treat heart failure, prescribed in coordination with endocrinologists and primary care physicians.
Customized care for cardiovascular conditions
Heart medicine and vascular medicine are part of your customized treatment plan, which may also include:
Your Nuvance Health cardiovascular care team works closely with your referring doctor, so your treatment process is as smooth as possible.
Ongoing support for cardiovascular conditions
Keeping your heart and vascular system healthy is a lifelong journey. We monitor your heart and blood vessels with follow-up appointments to make sure your medications are working.