Health Information

A fatty diet can raise your cholesterol, increasing your risk of heart disease and stroke. Get food tips for lowering your cholesterol.

In Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, the heart beats abnormally fast. The syndrome is congenital (present at birth) and is caused by an extra electrical connection in the heart.

Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) is an abnormal increase in heart rate after sitting or standing up. It typically causes dizziness, fainting, sweating and other symptoms. There are many possible causes of PoTS, but in many cases the condition is unexplained.

Pacemaker implantation is a surgical procedure where a small electrical device called a pacemaker is implanted in your chest. The pacemaker sends regular electrical pulses that help keep your heart beating regularly.

Oedema is the medical term for fluid retention in the body. The build-up of fluid causes affected tissue to become swollen. The swelling can occur in one particular part of the body – for example, as the result of an injury – or it can be more general.

A magnesium test is used to measure the amount of magnesium in your blood. Magnesium is a metallic element that's found mainly in the bones and is essential to life.

Long QT syndrome causes problems with the electrical activity of the heart. It's uncommon, occurring in around 1 in every 2,000 people. Long QT syndrome is often the result of a faulty gene that's inherited from one of your parents.

Cardiomyopathy is a general term for diseases of the heart muscle. It is when the walls of the heart chambers have become stretched, thickened or stiff, affecting the heart's ability to pump blood around the body.

The mitral valve (also called the bicuspid valve) separates the upper left heart chamber from the lower left heart chamber, and helps control blood flow through the heart. During each heartbeat, the smaller upper chambers of the heart (atria) contract to push blood into the larger lower chambers (ventricles).

A heart-lung transplant is a major and rarely performed surgical procedure where a person's diseased heart and lungs are replaced with those of a recently deceased donor. On average, only six heart-lung transplants are performed in the UK each year.

A heart transplant is an operation to replace a damaged or failing heart with a healthy human heart from a donor who has recently died.

Heart palpitations are heartbeats that suddenly become more noticeable. Your heart may feel like it's pounding, fluttering or beating irregularly, often for just a few seconds or minutes. You may also feel these sensations in your throat or neck.