Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/862008
CARDIOLOGY IS NOT ONLY FOR PEOPLE WITH A HISTORY OF HE ART PROBLEMS. AT HE ALTH QUEST'S HE ART CENTER*, ATHLE TES AT ALL LE VELS OF COMPE TITION BENEFIT FROM THE SERVICES OF SPECIALISTS AND SUBSPECIALISTS WHO HELP PROPEL THEM TOWARD PE AK CARDIOVA SCUL AR PERFORMANCE AND A SSESS THEIR RISK FOR UNE XPECTED CARDIAC E VENTS. "WE ARE ABLE to thoroughly eva luate indiv idua ls — from elite profession- a ls to weekend warriors — for cardiac risk," says M. Zubair Jafar, MD, Director o f I n t e r v e n t i o n a l C a r d i o l o g y a n d Structura l Heart Disease and Director of Sports Cardiolog y at Hea lth Quest. Dr. Ja fa r is a lso a ma rat hon r un ner and tri-athlete. " We then explore ways of minimizing the risks we recognize, w h e t h e r c on ge n it a l c on d it i on s i n young athletes or acquired conditions, such a s corona r y a r ter y d isea se, i n older athletes." Sports cardiologists deal with patients who are, in many cases, physiologically different from those treated by other ca rdiologists or by genera l-medicine physicians. Exercise itself can cause shifts in the heart's structure and behavior; for example, the ventricles may grow larger in endurance athletes, whereas strength-based athletes may experience thickening of the heart muscle. Sports cardiologists undergo specialized training to understand the nuances of "normal" hea r t st r uct u re for at h letes, wh ich might otherwise appear abnormal, says Kamran Haleem, MD, Medical Director of the Cardio-oncolog y Program, the Non-invasive Vascula r Progra m a nd t he E cho c a rd iog r aphy P rog r a m at Health Quest. James Lyons, MD, Director of the Heart Failure Program at The Heart Center, adds: "Those of us who have spent addi- tional time training to care for competitive athletes recognize that they differ in a number of respects from the genera l patient population. Too, physicians who practice sports cardiology have expertise in recognizing the risks associated with PHOTOS © PAUL MOORE, PAUL MOORE STUDIO Enhancing Performance and Guarding against Exercise-related Risk Sports Cardiology at Health Quest's Heart Center: BY JENNIFER WEBSTER M. Zubair Jafar, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology and Structural Heart Disease and Director of Sports Cardiology at Health Quest, conducts a VO2 max test on an athlete. * T he Heart Center, a division of Hud son Valley Cardiova scular P ractice , P.C. 0 6 0 6❱❱❱❱❱ C O V E R F E A T U R E