Women's Heart Center at University Hospital

...because only 8 percent of women understand that heart disease is their greatest health risk.

Our Commitment

University Hospital is the teaching hospital of the only academic medical center in the region, SUNY Upstate Medical University. It is here that research and the education of the next generation of health professionals are combined with up-to-the-minute patient care. All come into play at the new Women’s Heart Center, which is seeking to change the way the medical profession approaches the treatment of women with heart disease.

While much, recently, has been written about this topic, much less has been done to actively address it. The Women’s Heart Center is addressing it and recognizes that women are not men and they do notnecessarily respond to disease the same way men do, particularly heart disease.

The program is specifically designed to address the unique manifestations of heart disease in women. It offers state-of-the art diagnosis, care and prevention services, based on women's needs. It begins with a complete cardiac health evaluation based on the patient's family history and lifestyle. Once we know a woman’s level of heart health, we can determine which steps to take or recommend what will help maintain or improve her health.

Among our services are:

• evaluation and treatment of irregular heart beats (arrhythmias) and chest pain (angina)
• diagnostic cardiac testing.

This testing includes stress tests, cardiovascular ultrasound testing and ECGs (electrocardiograms) and a variety of surgical interventions.

The Women’s Heart Center is designed to raise awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women and to educate women about what they should do to prevent heart disease, and how to recognize symptoms. Part of the Center’s challenge is to inform women so they can be assertive and aggressive about their own health and act immediately when they suspect they are experiencing a heart attack (KNOW the SYMPTOMS).

We plan to give women the knowledge they need to seek rapid and appropriate care.

“During the first six years after a recognized heart attack, the rate of having a second attack is 35 percent for women. For men it's 18 percent.“ (Source: Division of Cardiology, SUNY Upstate Medical University)

	During the first 6 years after a recognized heart attack, the rate of having a second attack:
	35%	for WOMEN
	18%	for MEN
(Source: Division of Cardiology, SUNY Upstate Medical University)