Non-drug treatment

In addition to general health-improvement and restoration, methods such as physical therapy, cardiovascular machine exercises and physiotherapeutic methods that improve blood circulation promoting the growth of capillaries, non-drug treatment includes:

•            Cardioversion – restoring regular rhythms by sending an electrical shock to the heart. This is called electrical cardioversion. In most cases, it helps stop the conditions based on reentry mechanism, such as tachyarrhythmia events, atrial fibrillation and flutter, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia as well as ventricular tachycardia. At the same time, cardioversion does not prevent the reappearance of these types of arrhythmias;
  
  
•       Surgical intervention – sometimes in case of cardiovascular diseases it is necessary to provide surgical treatment:

1. 1. 1. Artificial pacemaker or cardioverter - defibrillator implantation - cardiac pacemaker is a natural part of the myocardium which generates rhythmic excitation pulses causing myocardial contraction. When there are any myocardial disturbances, then either a special artificial cardiac pacemaker is implanted to achieve electrostimulation of the ventricles or universal pacemaker – to provide successive stimulation of the atria and ventricles. In both cases an electrode is inserted into the right ventricle, but universal pacemaker implantation also requires an additional electrode inserted into the right atrium;
         
         
      2. Coronary artery bypass grafting – it is a surgical procedure which results in the creation of new paths for blood flow bypassing the parts of coronary vessels which are partially or fully blocked. In other words, during this surgical intervention new coronary arteries are formed. The lower extremity veins or arteries providing chest wall with blood are used as a material for these new paths. Coronary artery bypass is one of the most difficult and dangerous operative interventions with mortality rate up to 25%;
         
         
      3. Open heart surgery to correct heart defects;
         
         
      4. Heart valve reconstruction or replacement – it helps restore the impaired function of the affected valve. In other words, the aim of this surgery is either the restoration of the existing valve function or valve replacement when it is impossible to fix it. Certainly, it is more preferable to restore the natural valve of the patient as it provides better results. But, unfortunately, it is not always possible to keep it, and then it’s necessary to replace the valve;
         
         
      5. Heart transplantation – a surgery to replace the heart of a patient with the one of a donor. It is indicated in case of severe heart diseases when other procedures are impossible or too risky and life expectancy without heart transplant is low. Patient's heart can be either removed or retained.