Heart disease

At Aurora Health Care, we’re here to help you care for your heart so you can enjoy all the things you love in life. Our team is your team and includes some of Wisconsin’s leading experts in diagnosing and treating all types and stages of cardiovascular conditions.

What is heart disease?

Heart disease refers to conditions that affect your heart and the blood vessels connected to it. Sometimes this group of conditions is also called cardiovascular disease, with vascular referring to blood vessels.

Types of cardiovascular disease

You may experience a single type of heart disease or several at the same time. The more common types include:

• Hypertension, or high blood pressure, usually doesn’t have symptoms, but can be controlled with medication and lifestyle changes.
• Coronary artery disease happens when fatty deposits called plaque build up in the arteries that supply blood to your heart, making it hard for oxygen-rich blood to get through.
• Arrhythmia is an abnormal heartbeat that is fast, slow or irregular, and may make it more likely for blood clots to form. Clots can block a blood vessel so that blood doesn’t reach your heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke.
• Cardiomyopathy is a weakened heart muscle, which interferes with your heart’s pumping ability.
• Heart valve disease is when one of your heart’s four valves doesn’t open and close the way it should.
• Peripheral artery disease happens when there is poor circulation to the arteries in your legs and feet.
• Heart attack occurs when something – often a blood clot – stops the blood flow to your heart.
• Stroke happens when blood flow to your brain is blocked or interrupted, which can severely affect your ability to speak, swallow, remember and move.
• Congenital heart disease is a condition you’re born with and may cause lifelong symptoms.

Heart disease diagnosis

Heart disease can have many causes, depending on the type. At Aurora, we’re experts in accurately diagnosing cardiovascular conditions, so you’ll receive the right treatment right away for your best heart health.

To precisely identify the type of heart disease and how far it has progressed, we may use diagnostic tests such as:

• Blood tests to check your oxygen levels and organ function
• Radiographic imaging, such as chest X-ray, CT scan or MRI, to see a picture of your heart and blockages
• Echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound, to show your heart’s size and motion
• Electrocardiogram (EKG) to check your heart’s electrical activity
• Stress test to see how your heart functions when it’s working hard
• Cardiac catheterization, a minimally invasive procedure to see how well your heart is working and if you have blockages in the blood vessels around it
• Tilt-table test to learn what is causing fainting spells

Find out more about our heart and vascular testing and diagnosis.

Heart disease treatment

We offer the latest in minimally invasive procedures to treat all stages of heart disease, so you’ll have less downtime and a faster return to the activities you enjoy. If you’re diagnosed with heart disease, we’ll work with you on a care plan that’s right for you.

Your treatment will vary depending on the condition and cause. We may recommend:

• Medication to help control high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat
• Lifestyle changes, such as a healthy diet, relaxation techniques and increased activity, to improve your symptoms and prevent the disease from progressing
• Angioplasty or stenting to clear your arteries so your blood can flow more easily, using a tiny balloon to open the artery or placing a small cage (stent) to hold the artery open
• Coronary artery bypass graft surgery, where our specialists, who are nationally recognized for quality in this procedure, reroute blood vessels to make a new path for oxygen-rich blood to flow to your heart
• Heart valve repair and replacement, minimally invasive procedures to help heart valves work as they should
• Ventricular assist device (VAD), an implanted device that helps your heart beat regularly
• Heart transplant to treat advanced heart failure, with a heart transplant program that ranks among the top programs nationwide
• Cardiac rehabilitation in your community, where our specialists give you extra support, education and coaching to get you on the road to recovery

Learn more about interventional cardiology.

Are you at risk for heart disease?

Knowing your risk factors of heart disease – the leading cause of death in the U.S. – can help you lower your chances of developing it. Our heart health quiz estimates your risk, determines which of your risk factors are controllable and gives you an idea what to do next based on your results.

Take the heart health quiz