AboutDavid Richardson Expertise Adult heart function and disease. Not very good about children lesss than 12. Hypertension is o.k. Heart rhythm a special interest.
Experience Certified in cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Was chairman of division of cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia. Am now mostly retired.
Organizations Fellow of American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and member of American Physiological Society..
Publications Circulation, American Heart Journal, Hypertension.
Education/Credentials M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Residency training at Yale Uhniversity School of Medicine and Medical College of Virginia.
Awards and Honors Gold Heartt Award from American Heart Association in 1995.
Question Dear Dr. Richardson, My aunt who will turn 87 next Wednesday is having an arteriogram this morning. She has a blockage in an artery in the back of her knee and the arteriogram has something to do with this. They are going to put her out for this procedure which is what I am concerned about. For the past year, she has times when she gets breathless and her heart beats fast. This happened once when she was coming out of the medication they gave her for a colonscopy and they kept her and ran tests and sent her home later. Saturday night after the fireworks, when she was walking to her car, she became breathless and when she got home her pulse was 98. Isn't it dangerous for her to be put out when she has been having this type of problem?
I am very concerned about her.
Answer DEar Connie,
Seems dangerous to me. Arteriograms are usually done under local anesthesia.
She prpbably should have an echocardiogram because of her breathlessness.
Please write back if this note doesn't answer all your questions.
