Studies & Degrees in Cardiovascular Diseases

Choose where you would like to study Cardiovascular Diseases:

What do we mean when we say Cardiovascular Disease? The word “cardio” is a medical term which means “heart” and the word “vascular” pertains to the vessels in our body known as our veins and arteries. So when we talk about Cardiovascular Disease, it means diseases affecting our heart and our vessels.

There are many cardiovascular diseases known to man. Heart disease is the number killer of men and women. More people are dying from cardiovascular diseases compare to cancer. Do not think that because you are young you are not susceptible to having cardiovascular diseases. There are those between the ages of thirty and thirty five who are already suffering from such illnesses.

There are many cardiovascular diseases. The most common of which are coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and congestive heart. Now, do not get intimidated with the names. Coronary artery disease simple means disease of the arteries surrounding the heart since the name of the artery that around the heart is coronary artery. For myocardial infarction, it is also known as heart attack. Congestive heart failure on the other hand simply means that the heart is unable to pump blood. Other heart diseases congenital in nature and other are infectious types.

Varicose vein is one of the common vascular diseases. Others include occlusion of vessels with fatty deposits and extreme reaction to cold temperature.

Understanding diseases that involves the heart and the vessels would require a great understanding of the parts of the heart and the vessels as well as the specific function of each. In simple terms, a specialist on this field must know the heart and the vessels inside and out. Knowing the anatomy and physiology will help you in analyzing the causes of the each disease. Studying the contributing factors as to how can someone acquire cardiovascular diseases is important because it can lead to preventing the disease itself. For example, most cardiovascular disease started out from being a simple block or plaque cause by eating fatty foods. So avoiding fatty foods can help a lot in avoiding such disease. Another risk factor is tobacco use which markedly increases the chance for heart attack.

Cardiovascular disease medicine is a specialty under internal medicine. To become a specialist in the field, after graduating from medical school and passing the licensing exam, you will need to study additional three years to become an internist then pursue an additional one to two years training in an accredited program and pass an examination to become board certified. Only then can you call yourself a full-pledge cardiologist. Cardiologists are the expert on the field of cardiology, but they do not work alone. There are other members of the team like the cardiac surgeon who specializes in the surgery of the heart and vascular surgeons specializes on the reconstruction of the vessels. They also work with dietitians, nutritionists and other therapists who also contribute to the recovery of the patient with cardiovascular diseases.

Our cardiovascular system is an interesting network that works in perfect rhythm 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Our heart does not rest. It works even while we are sleeping so taking care of our heart is of utmost importance. Specialization in the field of cardiovascular disease will provide you with the opportunity to save people’s lives while providing you the potential to grow professionally.