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Cardiology is one of the fields of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases and ailments related to abnormalities in the cardiovascular system. The first mentions of cardiology appeared in BC, related to the heartbeat and its enormous role in keeping people alive. What is the scope of cardiology activities?
Cardiology – history of this field
Cardiology is a dynamically developing branch of medicine with a very long and extensive history. Its origins as a specific field of medicine are estimated in the first half of the 1628th century, because in 100 the English biologist William Harvey discovered that the heart is in fact a pump that sucks and pumps blood, continuously flowing through the blood vessels. He will describe it as a closed blood system. It was an evident breakthrough in cardiology, which led to further scientific discoveries. About XNUMX years later, Stephen Hales, a famous physiologist, conducted the first successful attempt to measure a horse’s blood pressure. He did this with the invasive technique of inserting a tube into the animal’s carotid artery. At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, another groundbreaking discovery took place – the invention of the wooden stethoscope by the French physician and pathologist René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec. Over time, this type of tool was replaced with a flexible stethoscope. However, in order to assess whether the heart beats properly, it was necessary to invent equipment that would make this possible. The German doctor, Karl von Vierordt, who invented the first non-invasive blood pressure monitor, coped with this situation. The device has been improved many times over the years. Today, blood pressure is measured in the so-called by the Korotkov method, which takes its name from the name of a surgeon. The method proposed by the scientist was to use a stethoscope while measuring blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer.
Cardiology has not always been a separate field of medicine. Originally it was classified as internal medicine. It was not until the beginning of the 1925th century that the first publications related to the structure of the heart, its physiology and its impairment began to appear. In XNUMX, in the United States, the American Heart Association was established, i.e. the first cardiological society that gathered the best specialists in this field of the time.
Cardiology – the scope of its activity
In general, cardiology covers issues related to acquired heart disease, its congenital defects, and impairment of the proper functioning of the circulatory system. However, it turns out that the etiology of heart disease does not always result from dysfunction of the cardiovascular system, but also from other areas of the body. These can include, for example, the lungs, the central and peripheral nervous systems, and the kidneys. Following this line of thinking, the following medical fields are close to cardiology: pulmonology, neurology and nephrology. Over the years, cardiology has also distinguished other specializations that focus on specific cardiovascular ailments. These are: angiology in the lymphatic and circulatory systems, hypertensiology in arterial hypertension, and cardiac surgery aimed at surgical treatment of injuries to both the heart and chest organs, e.g. the diaphragm or esophagus.
Cardiology – what conditions does it cover?
The most common ailment that cardiology deals with is hypertension. It results from a number of factors, such as long-term stress or obesity. As the percentage of people suffering from arterial hypertension increases, a separate area of cardiology, hypertensiology, has been distinguished. Another condition is the very common coronary artery disease, also known as ischemic heart disease or angina. It is usually caused by the deposition of atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries, which leads to the narrowing of the lumen of the vessels. Complete blockage of the vessel may result in a heart attack. Cardiological treatment of coronary artery disease includes pharmacological therapy, surgical implantation of aortic bypass bypassing the narrowed artery, and the so-called revascularization, i.e. drainage of vessels. Cardiology also deals with the common arrhythmias that are associated with the malfunctioning of the heart’s conductive stimulus system. These include tachycardia, flutter and fibrillation atrial or ventricles. Cardiology also deals with anatomical heart defects and infections of the heart muscle. It is a branch of medicine that is constantly evolving and the techniques used are constantly being improved.