What’s New in Heart Health?

Watch an Upcoming Television Program to Find Out!

by Annette Pinder

Each February, we focus on heart health and matters of the heart. But heart health is something we should focus on daily. Nationally, heart is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups. According to the CDC, one person dies from cardiovascular disease in the U.S. every 36 seconds at a cost of $363 billion yearly in health care spending.

In an effort to better guide people regarding these dire statistics, Great Lakes Cardiovascular has scheduled an upcoming television program that will air on Wednesday, February 24 from 8 to 8:30 pm that will be repeated on Saturday, February 26 at noon on WBBZ-TV (Channels 5 and 67). During the program, Vijay Iyer, MD, PhD, and Mary Lou Scholls, ANP, will discuss why new dietary guidelines recently issued by the U.S. government are focused on improving heart health. The program will also address minimally invasive treatment procedures that are changing the lives of individuals diagnosed with heart disease.

In developing new dietary guidelines, the government points out that more than 50 percent of U.S. adults are living with one or more diet-related chronic diseases. However, many of these chronic diseases can be avoided by having individuals make simple changes to their food and beverage choices. The goal of the new guidelines is to have individuals adopt a long-term healthy dietary pattern, rather than focus on specific nutrients, foods, food groups, or fad diets. The guidelines even address recommended changes to how and what we are feeding infants and toddlers.
Vijay Iyer, MD, PhD, an interventional cardiologist at Great Lakes Cardiovascular, says, “The goal of the new guidelines is to encourage people to choose highly nutritious foods that contain a minimum of salt, saturated fats, and sugars. The most important thing we can do to help people manage their weight and prevent diet-related disease, is to have them make changes that are easy and practical to implement. We must also teach people how to make these changes in a way that both they and their families will accept.”

Dr. Iyer has been at the forefront of performing minimally invasive cardiac procedures. He has also been involved in both national and international clinical trials. Recently, he performed the region’s 2500th TAVR procedure, known as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, which replaces a diseased aortic valve with a man-made valve without the need for open heart surgery. Dr. Iyer will discuss TAVR, the WATCHMAN™ procedure for atrial fibrillation, the MitraClip™ procedure for patients whose mitral valve does not close properly, and other interventions, as well as ongoing clinical trials.

This is an important program for anyone concerned about preventing chronic disease and maintaining a healthy heart. If you have any questions that you would like answered, send
them to info@buffalohealthyliving.com by February 10. To make an appointment at Great Lakes Cardiovascular, call 716-710-8266, and visit www.greatlakescardiovascular.com. For information about clinical trials, visit www.research.buffalo.edu/portal/clinicaltrial/.