General Practitioners

• Primary Care
  The information stored by the recorder is downloaded to a computer program to analyze the data. A detailed report is generated by the computer software which is reviewed by the physician. A report is forwarded to your primary care physician.
• Smoking Cessation
  The same technologies utilized in the management of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease have now been applied to the management of peripheral vascular disease. Angioplasty, stents, atherectomy (removal of plaque) and bypass surgery are now widely used in the management of this disease. In addition, the routine use of anti-platelet agents (Aspirin and Clopidogrel) and lipid-lowering medications as well as risk factor modification (smoking cessation, management of high blood pressure, etc.) are standard treatments.
• Electrocardiogram
  Electrocardiograms are used to diagnose heart rhythm problems, heart attacks and other cardiac disorders in conjunction with other tests.

Internists

• Internal Medicine
  Dr. Paustian is a specialist in cardiology and cardiovascular diseases. He attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana for his undergraduate training and received a major in biology. He attended the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana where he graduated with honors. He went from Indianapolis to Atlanta, Georgia where he attended Emory University Affiliated Hospitals and specialized in internal medicine. He spent an additional three years at Emory training in cardiology and cardiovascular diseases. He has received special training in the management of patients with heart attacks and congestive heart failure as well as those who require open-heart surgery.

Radiologist

• Ultrasound
  Stress echocardiography is a combination of treadmill testing and echocardiography utilized to detect and manage coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. The principle behind the procedure is relatively straightforward: heart muscle supplied by a significantly blocked artery may contract normally or almost normally under sedentary conditions but when placed under a workload, the heart muscle supplied by that same blocked artery may fail to contract properly. The abnormal contraction may be detected by ultrasound imaging of the heart. In other words, the heart has a clogged fuel line and its engine starts knocking! Increase contractility is a normal response to exercise or with stimulation with a drug known as Dobutamine. Dobutamine also increases heart rate and contractility similarly to exercise.
• MRI
  In the past, evaluation of these areas was limited to physical examinations and special invasive x-ray studies of these arteries using x-ray dye known as angiograms. Although quite accurate, it would be inappropriate and costly to perform angiograms on everyone. Newer technologies including CT scanning and MRI scanning can also visualize these areas but again are costly and involve radiation exposure (in the case of CT scanning).
• X-Rays
• Computed Tomography
  Echocardiography is an ultrasound study of the heart and surrounding structures. The echocardiogram machine utilizes harmless, high-frequency sound waves to construct pictures of the heart (as opposed to radiation as utilized in x-ray studies and CT scans). These high-frequency sound waves are transmitted into the chest with the use of a device that looks very similar to a microphone called a "transducer."