About Our Heart Center

Despite significant advances in modern medicine, heart disease continues to be our nations #1 killer.  A major focus of the heart center at Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic is the detection and correction of cardiovascular disease before destructive events such as heart attacks or strokes occur.  Use the following guide to see if you could be at risk for heart disease.

Risk factors

♥  Has your father or brother had a heart attack before the age of 55?
♥  Has your mother or sister had a heart attack before the age of 65?
♥  Do you have diabetes?  Is your fasting blood glucose over 126 or do you need medication to      control your blood glucose levels?
♥  Is your total cholesterol 200 or higher?
♥  Is your HDL cholesterol less than 40mg/dl?
♥  Are you over 55 years of age (for women) or 45 years of age (for men)?
♥  Is your body weight 20% more than your ideal body weight?
♥  Do you get less than 30 minutes of physical activity most days?

If you have one or more risk factors for heart disease or stroke, tell your doctor.  Your physician can perform various tests and screenings to see if further treatment is warranted.  Here are some of the tests you that may be performed while at our Clinic.

Tests that may be necessary for intervention, prevention, and management.

♥  Blood pressure monitoring
♥  Cholesterol screening
♥  Blood glucose screening
♥  Electrocardiogram
♥  Arterial Doppler testing
♥  Exercise stress testing
♥  Echocardiograms
♥  Nuclear stress testing (exercise and non-exercise)
♥  Diagnostic angiography

Our purpose is to increase the quality of life and reduce cardiovascular risk.  Working under physician supervision, the Heart Center prevention team, which includes nurses, a patient education specialist and a physician assistant, will help you develop a comprehensive lifestyle modification program tailored to meet your prevention goals.  

Your individual program may include

♥  Assessment of cardiac risk factors
♥  Measurement of blood pressure
♥  Measurement of blood lipids and blood glucose
♥  Treadmill testing and exercise analysis
♥  Monitoring and pharmacological treatment of high blood pressure and high cholesterol
♥  Pacemaker Management