By Javed Butler, MD
February means heart health awareness, but taking care of your heart requires a year-round commitment that has lifelong benefits. What will you do differently to take better care of your heart?
Heart disease can affect anyone, regardless of gender, age or background. That’s why all of our cardiac care experts at Stony Brook University Heart Institute remain focused on how to best prevent heart disease and heal the heart.
We fight cardiovascular disease from every angle, using the best that cardiovascular medicine can offer: risk factor prevention; state-of-the-art diagnostics, such as 3D cardiovascular imaging; advanced minimally invasive procedures with robotic assistance; and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for inoperable aortic stenosis. In the hands of our cardiac experts, these and other cardiac advancements are used to address each patient’s unique situation.
Our ventricular assist device (VAD) program is the most experienced program on Long Island and the first to achieve national accreditation. It offers patients who are ineligible for a heart transplant a way to temporarily or permanently support heart function and heart flow. Patients who are eligible for a heart transplant but are too sick to wait for a suitable donor can also be helped by a VAD device.
The Heart Institute also features both a Valve Center and an Aortic Center where patients are evaluated by multiple cardiac specialists who create individualized treatment plans. Our Chest Pain Center is one of the few accredited centers in New York State. Our Endovascular Rapid Response Team is available 24/7 to treat aortic dissections/ruptures. Stony Brook is consistently recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Gold Quality Performance Achievement Award.
Do something good for your heart by getting involved in your own heart health. On Feb. 24, join us at Smith Haven Mall food court for blood pressure screenings at 8 a.m. and a heart health lecture at 9 a.m.
Our popular spring event, Keeping Your Heart Healthy at Any Age dinner and panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, May 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Stony Brook University. Register now at www.stonybookmedicine.edu/hearthealthy.
Have a question about heart disease prevention? Seeking a solution to a cardiac problem? Call us at 631-44-HEART (444-3278). We’re ready to help.
Dr. Javed Butler is co-director of the Heart Institute and chief of the Division of Cardiology at Stony Brook Medicine.
