Skip to main content UVA Health logo of UVA Health
Healthy Balance

Nurturing Your Heart: Cardiology Expertise at UVA Health (Page 9)

A provider checking the heart of a woman with a stethoscope.

Your heart has one of the most important jobs in your body – by pumping blood all around you, it gives you the energy you need for your daily life. When problems happen with your heart, you want the best experts and care to get your heart back on your beat.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S. Several medical conditions and lifestyle choices can put you at a higher risk for heart disease, like:

  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Unhealthy diet
  • Lack of exercise
  • Alcohol overuse

Cardiovascular Care at UVA Health

If you or someone in your family has heart problems, you want to find the best heart care around. You only have one heart. You don’t want to trust it to just anyone.

UVA Health’s cardiologists and vascular surgeons have the deep training and experience you want when looking for someone to guide your care. We make sure you get the thorough, expert attention you deserve.

Recognized Heart Care from UVA Health

In fact, UVA Health’s heart and vascular care expertise has been honored with a number of awards.

U.S. News & World Report ranked 4 of our heart treatment services as “high-performing,” which means they’re among the best in the U.S.:

And, we’ve gotten recognition from the American Heart Association, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and more. See our heart care awards.

Prevention is Key

Many heart conditions can be avoided with the right combination of diet, exercise, and awareness.

Keeping to a heart-healthy diet (eating lots of fruits, veggies, and whole grains) and limiting junk food and sugary drinks are great first steps to keeping your heart in good shape.

Exercise also does lots of good for your heart. You don’t need an expensive gym membership or fancy equipment at home even just taking a walk or riding your bike can help keep your heart in tip-top shape.

UVA Health Heart Treatment & Management

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your heart might need some extra attention. When heart disease starts to develop, our providers can help with:

  • Advanced imaging options to diagnose issues
  • Genetic testing counselors
  • Devices that diagnose, manage, and treat heart disorders
  • Procedures and treatment options that avoid big surgeries
  • Surgeons with experience in open and minimally invasive techniques

We’re Here for Your Heart

The following information can help you with preventing and managing your heart conditions. And, you can read about some of our heart experts and how they’ve helped patients here at UVA Health.

smoking can lead to chronic total occlusion, a form of coronary artery disease
Treating Chronic Total Occlusion

If you have coronary artery disease, that means an artery that supplies blood to your heart has plaque in it, which can obstruct or limit blood flow. With chronic total occlusion (CTO), a form of coronary artery disease, an artery in the heart becomes completely blocked. [caption id="attachment_10966" align="alignright" width="350"] Smoking is…

Kathleen McManus, MD
Research Roundup, Oct. 2015: Heart Disease Risk for Teens video post
News & Events, Videos 10/30/2015

This month, researchers announced a new diagnostic test that can help physicians predict teenagers’ future risk of developing heart disease. Researchers also looked at the effects of weight-loss surgery, the heart’s reliance on blood sugar, how the Affordable Care Act benefited low-income HIV patients in Virginia and the number of…

Aortic dissection can cause tearing chest pain or back & abdominal pain.
What’s Aortic Dissection? (Podcast Tuesday)

Aortic dissection almost sounds like some kind of surgery, but it's actually a life-threatening condition. The aorta, the largest blood vessel in your body, can develop a tear in its inner layer, and blood gets into the tear. Depending on what part of the aorta is involved, you may need…

placeholder image
Treating Critical Limb Ischemia (Podcast Tuesday)
Podcasts, Prevention 8/4/2015

Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is an obstruction of the arteries so severe it can greatly reduce blood flow to the arms and legs. This critical condition, which most often affects smokers and diabetics, can have dire consequences if left untreated, including skin ulcers, sores, and even amputation. In this week’s…

placeholder image
Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, & the Balance
Nutrition, Prevention 2/25/2015

I balked. Me? Have a health issue? But considering our family had followed the Paleo diet for a while, so that we still tend to avoid carbs and rely heavily on meat, and also I’d fallen off my running routine, maybe this was a sign that I did need to make some changes.

Subscribe for Updates

Get stories & health tips every week