Page 49 - Mended Hearts-HeartGuide

GLOSSARY AND REFERENCES

Term Description
Defibrillator
Surgically implanted medical device that restores heart rhythm by delivering an electrical shock
Echocardiogram to the heart

EKG Echocardiogram uses sound waves (ultrasound) to generate moving images to assess the chambers
and valves of your heart
Endocarditis
Electrocardiogram (also ECG) is a painless test that uses electrodes placed on the skin to record
the heart’s rhythm (electrical activity)

Bacterial infection of one or more of the heart valves

Fibrillation Fibrillation is the rapid, irregular, and unsynchronized contraction of muscle fibers within the upper
HF or lower or both chambers of the heart

Heart failure (HF) means the heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs

ICD Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a device that is put within the body to recognize and
Low EF correct certain types of life-threatening heart rhythms

Low ejection fraction (insufficient amount of blood pumping out of the heart’s ventricle)

LVAD Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a mechanical device placed inside or outside the body that
MI “assists” the heart to pump oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle to the body

Myocardial infarction (heart attack)

Pacemaker Surgically implanted device that assists the heart in maintaining normal rhythm

Palpitations Palpitations are unpleasant sensations of irregular and/or forceful or fast beating of the heart

PCI Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a nonsurgical procedure that relieves narrowing and
Pericarditis obstruction of the arteries to the muscle of the heart usually by placing a coronary artery stent

Inflammation of the outer membranes and sac around the heart

Prolapse Drooping down or abnormal bulging of the mitral valve’s leaflets backward into the heart’s atrium
Restenosis during the contraction of the heart
SCA
The reclosing or renarrowing of an artery that has been previously opened in a PCI and is
supported by an inserted stent

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is when the heart abruptly stops beating

Sinus Rhythm The normal regular rhythm of the heart set by the natural pacemaker of the heart called the sinus node

Stent Medical device made of expandable metal mesh inserted into a coronary artery, via a catheter, to
Tachycardia hold the artery open

A very rapid and often uncontrolled heartbeat

TEE Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a diagnostic test that employs ultrasound waves to make
Valve images of the heart chambers, valves, and surrounding structures and is done through the esophagus

A heart valve problem usually involves damage to the one-way-doors within the heart itself
caused by abnormal structure of one or more of the heart valves (tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral
[bicuspid], and aortic)

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