Cardiovascular Terminology

Local widening of an artery caused by weakness in arterial wall or breakdown of the wall from atherosclerosis

Chest pain caused by decreased blood flow to heart muscle

Abnormal heartbeat

Hardening of arteries with a collection of cholesterol-like plaque

Inability of heart to pump its required amount of blood. Blood accumulates in the lungs, causing pulmonary edema

Heart attack

Group of signs and symptoms indicating poor oxygen supply to tissues and insufficient return of blood to heart

Recording (via x-ray images) blood vessels after injection of contrast into bloodstream

Introducing a catheter into a vein or artery to measure pressure and flow patterns of blood

Measurements of enzymes released into the bloodstream after a heart attack

Measuring blood flow in vessels via sound waves

Producing images of the heart via sound waves or echos

Recording electricity flowing through heart

Local widening of an artery caused by weakness in arterial wall or breakdown of the wall from atherosclerosis

Measurements of cholesterol and triglyceride levels in blood

Measurements of high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein in blood

Producing an image, by beaming magnetic waves at heart, that gives detailed information about congenital heart disease, cardiac masses, and disease within large blood vessels

Imaging the motion of heart wall muscles and assessing the function of the heart via multiple-gates acquisition scan, which uses radioactive chemicals

Radioactive chemicals, which release radioactive particles, are injected into the bloodstream and travek to heart. Cross sectional images show flow of blood and functional activity of heart muscle

Electrocardiogram plus blood pressure and heart rate measurements shows the heart's response to physcial exertion

A radioactive chemical is injected intravenously to show perfusion of blood in heart muscle. It is taken up in the area of a myocardial infration

A radioactive test that shows where injected thallium-201 localizes in the heart muscle

Flexible tube is threaded through blood vessels into heart to destroy abornal tissue that causes arrhythmias

Brief discharges of electricity passing across chest to stop a cardiac arrhythmia

Vessels taken from the patient's legs or chest are connected to coronary arteries to make detours around blockages

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

A donor heart is transferred to a recipient

A balloon-tipped catheter is threaded into a coronary artery to compress fatty deposits and open the artery. Stents create wider openings that make recurrence of blockages less likely

Drugs such as tPA and streptkinase are injected into patient's bloodstream to dissolve clots that may cause a heart attack

Acute coronary syndrome

Automated external defibrillator

Acute myocardial infarction

Coronary artery bypass grafting

Coronary artery disease

Coronary care unit

Congestive heart failure

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Hypertension

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator