General & Preventive Cardiology

The key to detecting and preventing heart disease involves listening to your body and staying connected with your healthcare providers. If you experience trouble with daily activities or feel lower energy levels than usual, your heart may need attention.

Heart Care for All Stages of Life

At OU Health, you’ll find the general and preventive heart care that helps you keep your heart in top shape at every age. You’ll learn how to lower your risk and prevent heart disease through lifestyle changes and/or medications.

When you choose OU Health in Oklahoma City and Edmond for your general and preventive heart care, you become part of a multidisciplinary team of board-certified cardiologists, electrophysiologists, interventional cardiologists, cardiac imaging specialists, heart surgeons and preventive health specialists.

You’ll work together to thoroughly understand your risk factors for heart disease, incorporate and evaluate any information from your personal health monitoring devices such as a smart watch or KardiaMobile® pad, and then determine an accurate diagnosis of your condition. From this comprehensive background, you and your team develop a personalized plan designed to address your specific heart health situation.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease

You can help lower your risk of developing heart disease by making positive lifestyle changes. Review activities, family history, health conditions and other factors that can affect your heart health, including:

• Arrhythmias – Electrical problems in the heart that create uneven heart beats
• Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) – Cholesterol/plaque buildup in the arteries
• Chronic kidney disease (untreated)
• Chronic inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or human immunodeficiency virus
• Coronary heart disease or coronary artery disease – Reduced blood flow to heart from build-up of plaque in arteries
• Diabetes not well controlled
• Family history of heart disease or related conditions
• Fast heart rate (tachycardia) – Faster than your normal rate; usually, faster than 100-120 beats per minute
• Heart murmur (extra noise heard during heartbeat) or previous heart attack
• High blood pressure (hypertension) – Generally, readings above 120/80
• High cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) – LDL (bad) cholesterol above 189, HDL (good) cholesterol above 219
• History of smoking, alcohol abuse, substance abuse or chemical dependence, including recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine
• Metabolic syndrome – Combination of three conditions including increased waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood pressure, elevated glucose, low HDL cholesterol
• Palpitations – Strong heart beats you can feel
• Premature menopause (before age 40) and/or pregnancy-associated conditions such as preeclampsia
• Stroke – Reduced blood flow that damages brain cells
• Swelling (edema) of extremities – Hands, legs, ankles, feet
• Valvular heart disease – Conditions affecting one or more of four heart valves (aortic, mitral, pulmonic, tricuspid)
• Vascular disease of extremities or aorta – Reduced blood flow, inflammation, or obstruction in blood vessels (arteries, veins, lymph)

Take a Risk Assessment to Check Your Heart Health

Take one or more online assessments to learn about your possible risk for cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) or stroke.

Symptoms of Heart Disease

Pay attention to your body and talk to your primary care doctor or visit with the general and preventive cardiologists at OU Health—no referral needed—if you experience any of the following symptoms:

• Chest pain
• Chest pressure or tightness
• Dizziness or fainting
• Shortness of breath
• Excessive sweating
• Leg pain or cramping that affects your tolerance for activity
• Reduced ability to perform regular activities such as carrying groceries, vacuuming, walking up stairs

Heart Attack Symptoms - Get to know the American Heart Association’s warning signs of heart attack. For immediate help, call 911.

OU Health Heart Care Services & Treatments

Whether you need a thorough diagnosis of your current situation, a second opinion, or information about your risk of future heart related conditions, you and your OU Health team can take advantage of a wide range of heart care services and treatments, including diagnosis and preoperative evaluation, lifestyle improvements, medications, and monitoring, as well as consultation and referral services.

Diagnosis and Preoperative Evaluation

Heart disease appears in many forms. To help you and your team determine an accurate diagnosis or to complete a preoperative evaluation, you’ll participate in a comprehensive physical examination, collect and review information or results from any smart devices for personal monitoring that you may use, and complete a variety of activity-based tests, screenings, cardiac services or imaging procedures, including:

• Calcium scoring test – Detects calcium deposits (a component of blood plaques) in heart arteries using CT scan
• Carotid Doppler screening – Uses sound waves to measure blood flow in major artery connecting heart to brain
• Echocardiogram or stress echo – Uses high-frequency sound waves to check heart structures and functions; stress echo measures heart before and after exercise
• Electrophysiology (EP) studies or procedures – Evaluate heart’s electrical system to check for abnormal heart rhythms
• Exercise stress test (treadmill) or pharmacological (medicine-based) stress test – Shows heart’s response to exercise
• Nuclear stress test – Creates images to measure how heart muscle squeezes and pumps; also shows blood flow in heart at rest and during exercise
• Peripheral arterial disease screening – Tests for blood flow to body tissues outside the heart

Lifestyle Improvements, Medications and Monitoring

Many heart related conditions respond well to actions you can take on your own to improve your lifestyle. You also may benefit from taking medications that you and your team will monitor and manage over time. Depending on your specific situation, your personal care plan may involve components such as:

• Blood pressure monitoring, medication and management
• Cholesterol monitoring, management and/or cholesterol medication, including statins, which most people tolerate well to improve longevity by as much as 25 to 30 percent, according to recent studies by U.S. Veterans Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Exercise recommendations – Enjoyable ways to exercise for heart health
• Nutrition guidelines and recommendations for eating heart healthy foods
• Smoking cessation – Free program from Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center (OTRC) to help you quit smoking
• Substance use disorders treatment – Specialized program of multidisciplinary care at OU Health using evidence-based approach; Oklahoma City’s only substance use disorders program with a board-certified psychiatrist

Consultation and Referral Services

When you need additional care for your heart-related condition, you and your OU Health team may participate in consultations with a variety of healthcare specialists. You also may receive a referral for related services, including:

• Cardiac imaging
• Interventional and structural cardiology
• Limb preservation
• Vascular medicine
• Vascular surgery

Your General & Preventive Cardiology Care Team

As you work with your multidisciplinary heart care team at OU Health, you benefit from a whole-person approach to your heart-related health condition. Your team includes extensively educated cardiologists, electrophysiologists, cardiac surgeons, vascular specialists, nutritionists and many physicians in related specialties, as well as skilled and compassionate support staff. Each member of your highly trained heart care team contributes to your positive experience at OU Health. You can count on receiving comprehensive care supported by world-leading research and pioneering technology.