At a heart center, specialists in the fields of cardiology, cardiac surgery, and vascular surgery work together to form a highly specialized center of excellence dedicated to the heart.
Here you will find a selection of heart centers and additional information.
A cardiac center focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases and conditions directly related to the heart. Here, patients receive care for issues related to cardiac surgery, invasive (e.g., coronary artery examinations) and non-invasive cardiology (primarily ECG), and vascular diseases. As a rule, rehabilitation following necessary surgery is also available directly at the clinic.
Structure of the heart (©abhijith3747 Adobe Stock 93001580)
Depending on the heart center, different areas of specialization in patient care are offered. In general, however, the following cardiac surgical procedures are most commonly performed at a heart center:
Preventive surgery is often necessary, particularly in the case of an aneurysm—a pathological bulge in the aorta, commonly known as the main artery. This is because there is a risk that the aneurysm could rupture, leading to massive bleeding and, consequently, rapid death.
Using vascular stents, cardiologists at a heart center can surgically treat such a vessel and reduce this risk.
Narrowed coronary arteries usually lead, sooner or later, to symptoms of angina pectoris (“chest tightness”) or even a heart attack.
Often, the only remaining option to prevent this is what is known as bypass surgery. In this procedure, the narrowed coronary arteries are bypassed using a shunt placed upstream of the actual site of damage. This ensures an adequate supply of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle, and the initial symptoms disappear.
However, narrowing caused by plaque deposits can occur not only in the coronary arteries but also within the carotid arteries (carotid stenosis). These arteries supply the brain with blood and oxygen. If too little blood reaches the brain, there is a risk of a stroke. In cardiac surgery, such narrowings are treated using small “tubes” called stents. They keep the vessel open, thereby allowing blood to continue flowing.
Vascular surgery, meanwhile, focuses on the treatment of diseases of the arteries and veins, such as wear and tear or hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), as well as various forms of circulatory disorders.
Today, damaged heart valves can be surgically replaced (heart valve replacement) or repaired (heart valve reconstruction) at a specialized cardiac center to restore heart function.
Cardiac arrhythmias, including the dreaded atrial fibrillation, increase the risk of stroke and may require surgery as the disease progresses.
Using a special cardiac catheter, the cardiac surgeon will then work directly on the heart tissue to ablate pathologically altered areas of electrical activity in the heart muscle. This prevents these areas from triggering irregular contractions in the heart muscle. The goal of the procedure is to enable the heart to naturally return to a “normal” rhythm.
Modern pacemakers are versatile “auxiliary motors” that help regulate heart function. They not only stimulate a heart that is beating too slowly, but also intervene in cases of tachycardia or heart failure.
However, cardiac surgery at a specialized cardiac center is also required for congenital heart defects. For example, there are atrial septal defects, which essentially involve a hole—usually congenital—in the atrial septum. To prevent the formation of oxygen-poor mixed blood, atrial septal defects are surgically closed at the cardiac center.
Heart centers are generally run by cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. However, they also include angiologists, physiologists, anesthesiologists, and other non-medical professionals, who work together as an interdisciplinary team to provide the best possible care for heart patients.
Internists who specialize in diseases of the blood and the blood-forming organs are called hematologists. The field of hematology includes anemia and blood clotting disorders. The coagulation system—as the blood clotting system is called—may be impaired if, for example, hematomas (bruises) and bleeding occur frequently. In such cases, hematologists focus primarily on platelets and blood vessels.
Among the more common blood disorders are hemophilia and thrombophilia—an excessive tendency to clot, which is, in a sense, the opposite of hemophilia. However, malignant diseases such as acute and chronic leukemia, as well as malignant changes in the lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue, also fall within the scope of hematology. Hodgkin’s disease is particularly common in this context.
The primary diagnostic procedures in hematology are blood tests and bone marrow aspirations—that is, the removal of bone marrow tissue. Lymph node biopsies—the removal and analysis of lymph node tissue—also fall within the scope of hematology. Particularly in the case of malignant diseases of the blood or the hematopoietic system, hematology overlaps with other medical disciplines—namely, oncology and transplant medicine.
