Hi everybody – I’m Dr. Michael Richman a double board certified cardiothoracic surgeon. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Today we’re going be talking about the necessity of measuring the calcium in your heart arteries. Basically it is totally unnecessary and I am going to discuss atherosclerosis and the causes and what to do about it. I will also cite the most important studies showing that it is your genetics that matter most. Hopefully all

Here's exactly what happens every time your heart beats 🫀 It starts with an electrical signal from the SA node — your heart's natural pacemaker. That signal tells your atria to contract, pushing blood down into the ventricles. Then the ventricles contract (ventricular systole): 🫀 Right ventricle → pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs 🫀 Left ventricle → pumps oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body After that, the heart enters diastole — a brief relaxation where the chambers refill and pre