Stroke and heart attack prevention starts from life behaviors. A healthy diet (10 foods that are good for the heart) and frequent physical activity, as well as quitting smoking, are all things that reduce the risks of a stroke or an heart attack.
It’s important to undergo regular diagnostic tests and medical check-ups at NefrocenterLabs.
For this reason, at NefrocenterCardio there are top specialists and cutting-edge equipment for the most accurate check-ups.
Stroke prevention: the tests to undergo
To prevent the risks of a stroke, it’s important to undergo some periodical non-invasive check-ups.
Keeping blood pressure under control is the first step in stroke prevention. If the values aren’t normal, the first thing a doctor would recommend is a lifestyle change.
Only after accurate tests the pressure will be regularized through pharmacological therapy. In this case, a check-up made by one of NefrocenterCardio’s doctors can be essential to verify the cause of the blood pressure which, when has a high level, can be a dangerous risk factor.
It is also important to check the atrial fibrillation, which is one of the triggering factors of the stroke.
It’s a cardiac arrhythmia, almost always asymptomatic, which in 20% of the cases can trigger a stroke. In fact, if there’s an irregular heartbeat, clots can form, which can enter the circulation causing an ischemic stroke.
The last test to undergo is the blood sugar control one. High fasting glycemia values favor atheromatous disease which alters the arteries’ walls causing a subsequent occlusion, which can cause a stroke or a myocardial infarction.
Heart attack prevention: the tests to undergo
In the NefrocenterLabs it’s possible to undergo the tests to find out if a patient has a predisposition to a heart attack. The venipuncture verifies the dosages of cholesterol, both good (HDL) and bad (LDL).
In fact, bad cholesterol deposits itself in the arteries, clogging them, while the good one cleans them.
In addition to cholesterol, triglycerides should also be examined.
Total cholesterol, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, and triglycerides provide an evaluable lipid profile.
The dosage of electrolytes can be subsequently evaluated. It includes sodium, potassium, chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. In addition to these, PCR (C-reactive protein) tests are also performed, which detects the increase in values in the event of an ongoing inflammation.
Fibrinogen tests are important to know the level of blood clotting, because if it is higher than normal, it can lead to thrombosis.
Another test is the brain natriuretic peptide one. The BNP is a protein produced directly by the heart that favors the elimination of excess fluids and sodium, which occurs through urine.
The evaluations of troponin, creatine kinase and myoglobin must be done when dangers to the heart muscle are feared, while the examination of homocysteine is essential to verify the risks of atherosclerotic disorders.
Once these tests have been performed at the NefrocenterLabs, the next step are the diagnostic tests.
The cardiologist, in addition to verifying the patient’s lifestyle and their familiarity with the cardiovascular disease, could decide to perform more in-depth examinations.
At NefrocenterCardio it’s possible to undergo an electrocardiogram (ECG), an ecocolordoppler, or even an arterial and venous ecocolordoppler. The cardiologist may deem it appropriate to install a pressure Holter or an ECG Holter to record the heart rate’s variations along with any anomalies.
More in-depth tests available in NefrocenterCardio are the coronary CT scan, the coronary angiography, the magnetic resonance imaging, and the myocardial scintigraphy.