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Education: Understanding Your Options
Studies show that when people are diagnosed with heart disease, some want lots of information about their illness, and others just don’t want to think about it too much. Many people are eager to understand treatments and participate in decisions about their own health; others may prefer to ‘leave it to the doctor’. How much you want to know and how much you need to understand depends on you, there is no right or wrong way to feel.

  • If you want to lower your risk of heart attack and improve your quality of life, you need to take a number of steps.
  • The first step in taking control of your health is self-education: learning about heart disease and about the treatment options available to you.
  • Educational material on this site is a direct result of our editors’ 30 years experience working with, teaching, and talking to many of the world’s leading cardiologists
  • Much of the content on Angioplasty.Org is also a direct result of comments we’ve received from our patient community.
But if you want to lower your risk of heart attack and improve your quality of life, you need to take a number of steps, from taking daily medications to changing your diet, exercising and reducing stress. If you’ve come to this website you (or your family member) have probably been prescribed diagnostic tests and possibly treatments like angioplasty to improve blood flow to your heart.

More Education = Better Health Outcomes
You will do better at making lifestyle changes and dealing with tests and treatments, if you actively participate in your own recovery. Regardless of how deeply you want to delve into the science, you will likely feel more motivated to make changes, more positive about the future, and more comfortable during treatment, if you learn something about the disease, what to expect during treatment and what you can do to feel better.

Coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, is a chronic illness. It develops slowly, probably as a result of multiple factors and it is not ‘curable’, although there are studies that indicate that the biological effects of the disease may be reversible.

We know for sure that for most people the progress of the disease can slowed, the symptoms reduced, and your energy, comfort and well-being can be restored.

You can live a healthy life with heart disease if you take positive steps to manage your health. And, the first step of taking control is self-education: learning about heart disease and about the treatment options available to you.

Different Levels of Depth to Meet the Needs of Different Patients
At Angioplasty.Org we seek to make available several levels of information, so that you can find what you need and gain the level of involvement in treatment decision-making that will make you most comfortable.

We publish everything from a basic introduction to heart tests and treatments, to articles giving patients open access to listen in on and learn from technical conversations and controversies among pioneering cardiology researchers.

The educational material on this site is a direct result of our editors’ 30 years of experience working with, teaching, and talking to many of the world’s leading cardiologists. But much of the content on Angioplasty.Org is also a direct result of comments we’ve received from our patient community. So, talk to us. We urge our readers to let us know what kind of educational material, articles and tools you’d like to see more of, and we promise to respond.


"A review of the literature over the past 50 years found a number of studies indicating that giving healthcare consumers information (for example, a basic patient information sheet before surgery) has benefits that include:
  • reducing the number of complications and the length of time people stay in hospital
  • reducing the need for pain relief after surgery
  • increasing people’s feelings of satisfaction about their healthcare.
Giving consumers pre-operative information can save money in the long term and lead to better health outcomes”
-- Australian Government National Health & Research Council, Making Decisions About Tests and Treatments, 2006
 
coming soon...
Vote
on this Request from a Fellow Patient

One of our patient users, an author and digital media expert, has asked Angioplasty.Org to create an eBook with educational information, questions for physicians, and advice patients can use to improve communication with their doctors and to take charge of managing their heart treatment.

Do you think publishing a downloadable eBook for Heart Patients is a good idea?

[ ] YES
[ ] NO

(If we get enough YES answers, we’ll try to get a grant so we can make a patient eBook available for a minimal charge)


 

 
Informational Resources from Angioplasty.Org
Patient and Doctor
An Informed Patient is a Healthier Patient
Findings in a report issued by the Blue Shield of California Foundation show that an informed patient is an empowered patient: one who feels more comfortable asking questions of one's healthcare provider, and making decisions about one's own healthcare.... (read more)
Coronary Stent
Angioplasty 101
Overview of the procedure for patients and support people; describes what to expect and prepare for.... (read more)
CT Scanner
Tests and Diagnosis
Scheduled for a cardiac cath? A stress test? A MultiSlice CT scan? This section tells you what to expect, how to prepare and what the most recent developments are....(read more)
Transradial Artery Approach
Transradial (Wrist) Approach
Most caths are done from the groin artery in the leg, but the using the radial artery in the wrist increases patient comfort and reduces complications.... (read more)
-- This special section is supported by Medtronic
Drug-Eluting Stent on a Balloon
Drug-Eluting Stents
The how, what and why of these devices....(read more)

in-depth article
Devices: A Guide to Balloons and More
Survey of interventional techniques (balloon angioplasty, drug-eluting stents, atherectomy, intravascular ultrasound) currently used as treatments for coronary disease....(read more)
Andreas Gruentzig and his balloon
The History of Angioplasty
The year 2012 will mark the 35th anniversary of coronary angioplasty. View videos, interviews, photos and more about the emergence of this field in our History Center....(read more)
Adolph Bachmann
Video: The First Angioplasty
In September 1977, Dr. Andreas Gruentzig found his ideal patient to be the first person treated with coronary angioplasty. Adolph Bachmann, 37 years old, was in a Zurich hospital, awaiting bypass surgery for debilitating angina. The story of this historic event is told in this exclusive video by Mr. Bachmann himself, now in his his seventies, and his physician. Mr. Bachmann continues to lead a productive life in his native Switzerland....(click here to see the video.)

Advanced Resources from Angioplasty.Org
In-Depth

Look for this icon throughout Angioplasty.Org. It will steer you to additional topics and more technical articles on the site. Angioplasty.Org is home to hundreds of news stories, reports and articles on heart disease treatment, including scores of interviews with leading cardiologists in which they discuss their research and opinions on emerging technologies.

You can learn about on-going research studies and controversies in heart disease medicine. All physician-oriented articles on Angioplasty.Org are available to patients and caregivers seeking to understand the science behind the treatments and procedures their cardiologists may prescribe.

You can visit our In-Depth topic centers: