Fight Heart Disease
Like Cancer
A better way to understand and prevent the #1 killer
All author royalties from sales of this book will be donated to the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society
About the book
A new approach to understanding, preventing, and treating heart disease to empower you and your loved ones to live long and healthy lives.
The main cause of heart disease—the world's number one killer of women and men—is a cancer-like "tumor" inside the coronary arteries that keep our hearts beating. Although this similarity to cancer is well-established in medical journals, most people (and their health care providers) don't approach heart disease as seriously as cancer, even though it's just as deadly. In Fight Heart Disease Like Cancer, cardiologist Michael McConnell shares the stories of his family, patients, and research to lay out a modern and effective approach to preventing, screening for, and treating heart disease like cancer to avoid its dire consequences.
Dr. McConnell highlights the latest research on the substantial overlap between heart disease and cancer, from shared risk factors to screening for early detection to new and powerful therapies. In accessible language, and with personal perspectives from his daughters Mia and Kelly, he explains
• how heart disease grows in similar ways to cancer
• how to screen for early heart disease
• prevention techniques that incorporate both a heart-healthy lifestyle and medical help when needed
• simple and powerful therapies to reverse heart disease and prevent heart attacks and strokes
• digital health technologies, including wearable devices and artificial intelligence, that broaden access for detecting and monitoring heart disease
Dr. McConnell, through his work with the American Heart Association and the National Fitness Foundation, also highlights the many ways our society can reduce heart disease for all. Fight Heart Disease Like Cancer will guide you step-by-step on how to prevent, screen for, and treat heart disease to live a healthier and longer life.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Straight Talk: Heart Disease Is Like Cancer, Only Worse
Chapter 2: How Did We Get Here?
Chapter 3: Learning from Cancer in My Family and Myself
Chapter 4: Understanding Your Heart and Its Vulnerability
Chapter 5: How Can "Tumors" Cause Heart Attacks?
Chapter 6: Beyond "Tumors" in the Heart
Chapter 7: Cancer and Heart Disease Intertwined
Chapter 8: Prevention over Imaging
Chapter 9: Prevent Like It's Cancer
Chapter 10: Screen Like It's Cancer
Chapter 11: Treat Like It's Cancer
Chapter 12: Treating Cancer and Heart Disease Can Overlap
Chapter 13: Digital Health and AI to the Rescue?
Chapter 14: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 15: My Next (Work) Chapter
Chapter 16: My Next (Life) Chapter
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Index