Carilion celebrates heart failure awareness week

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - While you may be thinking of all things heart-related for Valentines day, Carilion doctors are hoping you pay attention to your own heart as an important organ in your body.

Monday kicked off Heart Failure Awareness Week.

As a person ages, blood pressure has a tendency to rise, which leads to weakening of the heart muscle.

Carilion is the only Ventricular Assist Device Center in western VA, meaning folks with end-stage heart failure don’t have to travel far from home for advanced heart and vascular care.

”The risk for heart failure increases as a person ages. So the number of cases, for example, in the US for heart failure is about 300-thousand cases per year, and the cases increase as the age of the group increases, so people over age 65 are at an increased risk,” said Dr. Daniel Pauly, the director of Heart Failure Cardiology and the VAD program, for Left Ventricle Assist Device.

Young people are also at risk with particular exposures. Factors like prior chemotherapy, genetics, and diabetes all heighten your risk for heart failure.