Women’s Heart Program
Heart disease kills more men and women every year than anything else. The good news is that it is largely preventable and treatable. OHSU is committed to stopping and even reversing heart disease in our patients through early detection, education and treatment.
Heart disease is a woman’s issue
The OHSU Women’s Heart Program is a new, comprehensive way to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease in women. Today, more Oregon women than men die from heart disease every year, and heart disease is the leading killer of American women – taking more lives than all cancers combined.
Why a women’s heart program?
Heart disease can be hard to detect in women, especially because women can have different symptoms than men. Traditional non-invasive tests to detect coronary heart disease, such as exercise stress tests, are less reliable in women than men.
Recent studies have also shown that abnormalities in the “microvascular circulation” (tiny vessels in the heart that cannot be seen with the traditional coronary angiography) may be the source of chest pain in many women. At OHSU, we have a powerful non-invasive test called myocardial contrast echocardiography that studies the microvascular circulation. This technology was developed by scientists at OHSU and is not available anywhere else in the region.
You can help prevent heart disease
Women can take control over several major risk factors, such as smoking, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Every woman should know her numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.), as well as the target numbers she should achieve to lower her risk of heart disease. It’s also important for women to know the potential warning signs of a heart attack. Women of all ages can call the OHSU Women’s Heart Program for consultation at 503 494-1775. To learn about heart attack warning signs, visit www.ohsu.edu/chestpain.
