Detection And Prevention

The good news about heart disease: It’s about 80 percent preventable, according to the American Heart Association. And when you can’t prevent heart disease, early detection can greatly increase your chances of successful treatment.

That’s why Premier Health provides you many opportunities to prevent and detect heart and vascular disease.

Heart Disease Prevention

The key to preventing heart disease is knowing the factors that put you at risk – and learning how to lower them. Premier Health offers you many ways, like these, to learn more and work with your health care provider to lower your risk:

• Preventive health visits with your physician.
• Premier HeartWorks at Miami Valley Hospital South, which offers convenient and affordable assessments and screenings that give you a “snapshot” of your heart health. HeartWorks helps identify hidden cardiovascular problems so you can begin treatment and lower your risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Premier Health Heart CT, a low-cost, non-invasive imaging test that takes less than 30 minutes and can detect early signs of heart disease before you notice symptoms. Premier Health offers the test at a variety of locations, including Premier HeartWorks.
• Community seminars, screenings, and other special events that Premier Health offers year-round, across Southwest Ohio. Check our calendar for upcoming events.

Are You At Risk For Heart Disease?

You can lower your heart disease risk through healthy lifestyle decisions, scheduling regular check-ups with your provider, and learning more about the factors that can contribute to heart and vascular disease, such as:

Aging, which stands apart, with family history, as the only uncontrollable risk factors in this list

• Alcohol abuse
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol and triglycerides   
• Metabolic syndrome
• Obesity
• Physical inactivity
• Preeclampsia during pregnancy

Take this cardiovascular risk assessment and talk with your health care provider about how you can decrease your heart disease risk.

Heart Disease Detection

Premier Health hospitals and outpatient facilities offer a wide range of diagnostic testing procedures, including advanced technology, to provide your health care provider a closer look at your heart health. If your health care provider has recommended outpatient testing, please schedule an appointment by calling (855) 887-7364(855) 887-7364.

One or a combination of these tests may be prescribed to help your provider determine the best course of treatment for you:

• Blood tests to assess organ function and other conditions that may affect your heart
• Cardiac stress test to determine how well blood flows through your heart and to the rest of your body
• Chest X-ray to check for fluid build-up in your lungs
• Computed tomography angiography or CTA, which uses special X-rays to provide detailed pictures of blood vessel anatomy, narrowed or blocked areas, and valve location, shape, and size
• Cardiac catheterization, a procedure in which a doctor threads a very small, flexible, hollow tube (catheter) through your blood vessels to diagnose heart conditions, such as narrowed or blocked arteries that reduce blood supply to the heart, causing chest pain or other heart disease symptoms. Cardiac catheterization may be done with various interventional procedures to treat heart disease.
• Echocardiogram or echo, which uses high-frequency sound waves to produce pictures of your heart's valves and chambers as they move. An echocardiogram can also provide information about the effectiveness of your heart's pumping action.
• Exercise stress echocardiogram, which is performed while you exercise to see how activity affects your heart
• Transesophageal echo or TEE, which uses a special tube, passed through your mouth and esophagus, to provide a closer look at your heart
• 3D echocardiogram, which displays parts of your heart in three dimensions so your cardiologist can more completely measure the size and check the function of your heart and valves
• Electrocardiogram or EKG, which records on graph paper the electrical impulses traveling through your heart muscle. An EKG can detect arrhythmias, or heart rhythm disorders, in your heart.
• Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI, which uses a large magnet and radio waves to produce moving images of your heart's valves and chambers, to help detect abnormal blood flow through the heart
• Vascular ultrasound studies, which use sound waves to create images of your blood vessels to help determine how well blood flows to and from your major organs

Contact Us

Every moment of your life depends on a strong, healthy heart. The Premier Health cardiology and vascular services team is here to help you, each beat of the way, with prevention, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitation services in our hospitals, outpatient centers, and medical offices across Southwest Ohio.