What Does a Cardiologist Do? Role and Conditions Treated
Learn what a cardiologist does: how heart specialists train, which heart and blood vessel diseases they treat, and how they reach a diagnosis.
The medical world has many kinds of specialists and subspecialists, and one of them is the cardiologist (the heart specialist doctor). The number of cardiologists is still fairly limited. Some small towns in Indonesia have only one or two cardiologists in an entire regency, a number that is badly out of proportion to the population of that regency.
When it comes to cardiologists, do you know who can earn that title? And what role do cardiologists play in health care? Here is a short explanation.
Who Is a Cardiologist?
Before a doctor becomes a cardiologist, he or she starts out as a general practitioner. That general practitioner then takes further specialist training in a field of interest, one of which is heart and blood vessel disease.
So a cardiologist is a doctor with more specific expertise in treating every disease related to the heart and blood vessels, often called cardiovascular disease.
To treat a patient's heart and blood vessel problems, cardiologists often work together with specialists in internal medicine.
What Roles Do Cardiologists Play?
As explained above, a cardiologist is a doctor with expertise in treating heart and blood vessel problems. So the cardiologist's role can also be described as treating and preventing a range of cardiovascular diseases.
In broad terms, a cardiologist's role is to treat the following types of cardiovascular disease:
- Coronary heart disease.
- Heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).
- Congenital heart disease.
- Heart attack.
- Myocardial infarction or angina.
- Heart valve disease.
- Aortic disease.
- Cardiac arrest.
- Heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmia).
- Heart tumors.
- Blood vessel disease.
- Heart failure.
In carrying out their role, especially when treating patients, cardiologists first run a series of examinations. These start with the patient's medical history, the symptoms the patient feels or experiences, and a physical examination of the heart to support the diagnosis. The diagnosis then determines the type and dose of medication and the action that must be taken right away.
If you are having heart health problems, you can consult experienced cardiologists at Heartology Cardiovascular Center. Besides competent specialists, Heartology's services are backed by advanced, modern equipment, which supports cardiologists and helps them get the most out of their treatment.
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