Cardiology is the branch of medicine dealing with the diseases and injuries of the heart. Cardiologists diagnose and treat blockages of the arteries and perform tests to open the blockages. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, cigarette smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle can all cause stress on the heart.

Cardiology Staff Faizan Iftikar, MD Vishnu Kalidindi, MD Kanubhai Patel, MD

Cardiology is the branch of medicine dealing with the diseases and injuries of the heart. Cardiologists diagnose and treat blockages of the arteries and perform tests to open the blockages. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, cigarette smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle can all cause stress on the heart.

Cardiology is considered to be an internal medicine subspecialty. A doctor of cardiology is known as a cardiologist. The job of a doctor of cardiology or a cardiologist is to diagnose and treat blockages in the arteries and to do tests that could help to open the blockages. A number of lifestyle factors can make treatment from a cardiology doctor necessary. Those factors that could preclude an appointment with a cardiology doctor include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, cigarette smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. Even one of these lifestyle factors can cause stress on the heart.

A doctor of cardiology is not the same thing as a cardiac surgeon who performs open heart surgery. The field of cardiology also diagnoses and treats coronary artery disease, congenital heart defects, valvular heart disease, heart failure and electrophysiology. Those doctors who specialize in cardiology spend four years in medical school, three years of general internal medicine training and three or more years in specialized cardiology training.

If your primary care doctor suspects a heart condition or disease, you might be referred to a doctor specializing in cardiology. There are a number of cardiology tests that might be performed by a doctor of cardiology such as an echocardiogram, ambulatory EKG, an exercise test or cardiac catheterization. Depending on the training of a doctor of cardiology, they may or may not specialize in cardiac catheterizations. An EKG is a cardiology test also known as an electrocardiogram. This test records the activity of the heart by spreading an electrical signal from the top of the heart all the way to the bottom of the heart for every heartbeat. This signal causes the heart to contract and pump blood. The EKG will show a doctor of cardiology the rhythm of the heart beat, the rate of the heart beat, the irregularity of the heart beat and the timing and strength of the electrical signals when they pass through the heart.

Methodist McKinney Hospital does not offer cardiology diagnostic services including stress or ECHO tests. If you need cardiology services, the physicians of Methodist McKinney Hospital can offer referrals to any interested parties to a group of consulting cardiology doctors in the Frisco and McKinney, Texas, area.

Methodist McKinney Hospital works closely with a group of consulting cardiologists. The facility does not offer diagnostic cardiac services such as stress or ECHO tests.