SVMC cardiology

 

 

STRIVING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE ONE BEAT AT A TIME

You get one life and you get one heart. The board-certified cardiologists and associated practitioners at SVMC Cardiology are committed to helping you make the most of both.

Our patient-centered approach to care and personalized care plans maximize your quality of life while delivering the treatment you need when you need it.

Creating the appropriate treatment plan for your condition begins with a cardiac consultation. Your consultation is a chance for you to share your health history and current concerns with your cardiologist. All necessary exams and tests are conducted on-site by your cardiac care team. The results are shared and discussed directly with you so that you fully understand your condition, treatment options, associated risks, and potential lifestyle changes.

After a heart episode or surgery, there’s nothing our cardiac team and you want more than for you to just get back on your feet and live the life you want. That’s why we begin your rehabilitation program before you even leave the hospital. Through a combination of education and exercise, your personalized program will help you build strength and reduce your risk factors. Using the full range of cardio equipment in our Cardiac Rehab Center and under the watchful eye of our rehab team, you’ll improve your heart’s strength and capacity and get closer to resuming a full and active lifestyle. For more information about Cardiac Rehabilitation, click here.

In order to understand how well your heart is or isn’t functioning, an echocardiogram may be performed. This non-invasive procedure uses sound waves to produce images of your heart. Both of SVMC’s cardiologists are board certified in echocardiography and able to observe how your heart is pumping and identify any abnormalities in the heart muscle or valves. An echocardiogram allows our team to make the most informed and appropriate recommendations for the next steps in your care.

If a standard echocardiogram does not provide a clear image of your heart, your SVMC care team may recommend a transesophageal echocardiogram or TEE. Performed at the hospital, this procedure involves inserting a flexible tube containing a transducer down your throat and into your esophagus. From this closer vantage point, the transducer then uses sound waves to create more detailed images of your heart and allows for better diagnosis.

Before we treat your heart, we need understand how it’s performing. At SVMC we offer a number of non-invasive stress tests that can quickly and easily reveal a number of things including: how well your heart works during increasing levels of activity; how certain medications are impacting blood flow; the effectiveness of procedures done to improve heart performance; and more.

If you have risk factors for heart disease, calcium scoring may may help you learn more about whether you are actually at risk. The non-invasive test uses high-speed CT imaging technology to measure the hardening of the heart’s arteries, a leading indicator of heart disease and heart attacks. Visit the calcium scoring page for complete details. 

A pacemaker is one of the most effective ways to ensure a heart maintains a steady, healthy beat. The SVMC cardiac team is exceptionally skilled and experienced at both pacemaker implantation and monitoring. Considered a minor surgery, implantation takes place at the hospital with most patients returning to normal activity (and a more steadily beating heart) within a few days. Like all medical equipment, pacemakers need a little TLC every now and then. At SVMC our cardiac team can perform routine monitoring, both remotely and in the office, and reprogramming as needed.

One of the most common cardiac diagnostic tools, an EKG is a painless way to check for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. The EKG translates and records your heart’s electrical activity over a period of time and translates it into waves. Your SVMC care provider can use printouts of the waves to detect any patterns that might point to a specific condition and put together a treatment plan that meets your specific needs.

Should your SVMC cardiac care provider want to monitor your heart over a longer period of time than is practical for a standard EKG, you may be given a Holter or event monitor. Worn outside the body and completely painless, monitors are helpful in detecting abnormalities that only happen occasionally and can help your doctor link any abnormalities to specific activities or events in your day.

Carotid ultrasound
At SVMC our goal is to treat your health issues before they become problems. Using our sophisticated carotid ultrasound test, your cardiac care provider can detect blockages in your neck arteries that could lead to a stroke or indicate problems in other parts or your circulatory system.

Education
Because understanding what causes heart problems is essential to resolving them, we offer a variety of educational resources to patients and their families.  Workshops are offered on an ongoing basis throughout the Dartmouth-Hitchcock network, and condition-specific literature is available in our offices. 

140 Hospital Drive, Suite 211, Bennington, VT 05201
Phone: (802) 442-0800
Fax: (833) 343-1597

Hours:
Monday – Friday:  8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Directions: 
For directions to SVMC Cardiology, click here. 

Parking:
For appointments at SVMC Cardiology, park in parking area P3 or P5.

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    Going from Thumb Pain to Thumbs Up
    Administrator Account

    Going from Thumb Pain to Thumbs Up

    Practically everything we do involves our thumbs: pulling on pants, holding our coffee mug, gripping the steering wheel, or turning a key. So thumb pain can really make everyday activities more difficult. The most common cause of thumb pain is basal joint arthritis.

    Arthritis, especially that in the hands, appears to run in families. Women are more likely to develop osteoarthritis in the hands than men. It is more common among those over age 40 and those who do jobs or activities that require repetitive pinching or gripping activities like factory work and sewing.

    Just like other types of osteoarthritis, basal joint arthritis occurs when the cartilage buffer between the joints is worn away. Bone rubs on bone, and it can be painful. It can also be caused by an injury to the thumb. Symptoms include swelling, stiffness, decreased strength, decreased range of motion, and pain. The thumb can appear “out of joint” or subluxated. The pain can be constant or brought on by use. Limiting use can cause a decrease in muscle around the base of the thumb.

    There are lots of non-surgical treatments to try, including resting the joint, ice, heat, topical ointments, and anti-inflammatory medications. Patients may find bracing helpful or using products that are designed to be more ergonomic, like fat pens and jar grippers. Some patients find massage, acupuncture, and paraffin wax therapy helpful as well.

    If they have tried the other options, patients can consult their primary care physician for a referral to a hand surgeon to evaluate and treat the joint. The surgeon may be able to diagnose with a simple physical exam or may need an x-ray. These steps are important because they help rule out the other potential causes for the pain.

    Steroid injections into the thumb basal joint can provide lasting relief for many patients with mild or moderate arthritis.  If all else fails and the pain is still severe, the patient can opt for surgery. The most common surgery for thumb basal joint arthritis is a CMC arthroplasty where one of the bones causing the pain is removed. Traditionally, when the joint is removed it is replaced with a tendon from your forearm. More modern techniques eliminate the need to take the forearm tendon and can stabilize the joint with a strong suture instead. Patients should expect 6 weeks of full-time splinting and 3 months of occupational therapy.

    Many patients will find that home treatments will work to reduce the pain at first, but basal joint arthritis will often worsen over time. Surgery may be the only option for pain relief once other options no longer work to control the pain. Fortunately, once the patient has healed and the therapy is complete, most patients have little pain, better strength and much greater function after surgery.

    David Veltre, MD, is a fellowship-trained hand surgeon at SVMC Orthopedics in Bennington, VT. He also sees patients at Northern Berkshire Orthopedics in Williamstown, MA.

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