Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasan
Internal Medicine - Cardiology
Chicago, IL
19 years experience male
Locations
Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute
Chicago, IL
About
Bio
I'm a board certified cardiologist and physician-scientist. My clinical area of focus is Sports Cardiology—the cardiovascular care of athletes. My research area of focus is on applying nanotechnology approaches to understanding how high-density lipoproteins (HDL) work, with an ultimate goal of finding new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies leveraging the potential of HDL biology to protect against cardiovascular disease.
My clinical and research training has all been at Northwestern University. My undergraduate background is in Biomedical Engineering. I graduated from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2003, and continued on to pursue residency, fellowship, and research training there.
SpecialtiesDoctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Doctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Internal Medicine - Cardiology
Cardiology
Licenses
United States: Illinois
Doctor Q&A
162 Answers
21 Agrees
The number of answers this doctor has agreed with.
A 45-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Carotid artery surg.: A carotid endarterectomy is a surgery to "clean out" the carotid artery. Doctors do this if there is significant atherosclerosis buildup in the caroti... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Incidental finding: It probably says minimal pleural-based nodularity. This is likely an incidental finding of the ct scan that almost certainly is nothing to worry about... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Maybe: First of all, congratulations on your goal of losing weight. Even a little bit of weight loss can really help with type 2 diabetes. Meal timing is an ... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 38-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Hyperthyroidism: This could be one of several conditions, but this constellation of symptoms makes me think of hyperthyroidism first. I would advise getting it checked... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Perhaps: If the laryngopharyngeal reflux is causing excessive mucus or buildup in the airway such that it is difficult to move air, then perhaps. Alternatively... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
It can be: Headaches can be caused by high blood pressure, as well as a variety of other causes. In general the easiest thing to do if having high blood pressure... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 24-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Very very unlikely: It is very very unlikely that after a cold you will get myocarditis. Having said that, people who get myocarditis often have a cold that preceded it.
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 42-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Lower blood pressure: Propranolol is used to lower blood pressure and heart rate in a variety of heart conditions. It is also used to lower pressure in the portal veins if ... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 29-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
If you have chest sx: if you have chest tightness associated with the cough, I would advise getting checked out. Chest tightness + cough could be due to worrisome causes or... Read More
3.5k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Wrist: the easiest place for most people to take their pulse is on the inside of their wrist on the side near the thumb. the other place to check is on the n... Read More
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 50-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Atherosclerosis: Far and away the most common reason for this is build up of plaque in the arteries, called atherosclerosis. This is caused by a combination of high bl... Read More
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Fast heart rate: This is a syndrome of having a specific type of fast heart rate related to having an abnormal connection of cells between the top and bottom chambers ... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Cardiac muscle: Cardiac muscle is the form of striated muscle that forms the walls of the heart
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 42-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Possible: Based on your description it is possible that when you get heartburn like symptoms, you have pain, and that gets your heart going. However, it is impo... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Hard to say: This symptom could be related to a rhythm problem in the heart. In general if someone is at rest, and suddenly notes a fast heart beat, which then eit... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
It depends: It all really depends on the context of the exercise, and how soon after exercise finishes. In general, however, the faster one's heart rate recovers ... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
It's natural: When running your breathing rate increases, which can be very drying to the airways. Increased phlegm production is a completely natural way to counte... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 17-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
In general yes: Glad to hear you are recovering! it is ok to resume lifting at this point, but it could take up to a year for your abdominal wall to heal up to full s... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 25-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Lots of things: Beta blockers have multiple effects on the heart including slowing the heart rate and reducing contractility. One property that follows from these is ... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 29-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Depends on Symptoms: The best way to answer this is to say that it is not necessarily too low. If there is no lightheadedness or dizziness, and the heart rhythm is sinus b... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 45-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Yes: For a change in arrhythmia burden, i would recommend calling your physician. There's a chance he or she would like additional testing or to change you... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 21-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Depends: It depends on the age of the patient. A patent ductus arteriosus persisting into adulthood is abnormal and could impose significant strain on the hear... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
All of them: Running is a total body exercise which really loads the majority of bones in your body. All the major bones in the lower extremities come under consid... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 61-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
OK: There should not be any significant interactions between these two medications. One thing to consider/discuss with your doctor is what dose of Rosuvas... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 27-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Hard to say: It would be best to see a healthcare provider to have this evaluated more fully. It could be something simple like a muscle cramp or pain with a joint... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
AV node delay: I think you might be referring to a prolonged pr interval. This refers to the time between when the atrium activates and when the ventricle activates.... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 61-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Perhaps: Dear tiger, thoracic and abdominal aneurysms are caused by a variety of factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and genetic... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Loss of body fat: In general the best way to enhance muscle definition is reducing body fat percentage. Seeing definition between the heads of the biceps probably is no... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 33-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Other way around: Veins actually carry blood back towards the heart after the blood is done circulating through either the body or the lungs.
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Absolutely: The heart is a dynamic organ that responds to the needs of the body. A part of this is forming new capillaries to respond to increased metabolic needs... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 39-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Perhaps: Bulbous fingertips sounds like the medical finding of "clubbing" which can be a sign of pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in the pulmonar... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 44-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Measures oxygen: Pulse ox is a technique used to measure the oxygen saturation in your blood. Oxygen is carried around the body in hemoglobin molecules; pulse ox detec... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Insuff. blood flow: This is a way of saying that part of the heart is not getting enough blood (ischemia). To help with localizing what part of the heart is affected, we ... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 48-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Not always: Most subarachnoid hemorrhages and aneurysms are not genetic, however there are a few genetic disorders that do predispose to this condition. These are... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 41-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Depends on volume: If you are well trained (running 2 years plus), and truly sprint specialized (distances 400 m and below) then running distances (say 5 miles or greate... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 36-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Increases: Dancing increases your heart rate because your muscles need more oxygen to keep you moving, which means the heart has to work harder to get the oxygen... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Pressure: Blood comes back to the heart because there is continually blood being pushed into the extremities by the heart displacing the blood that was previous... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 41-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
No one right answer: This has never been precisely defined to my knowledge. I would say (as a general rule of thumb) if someone has less than 100-200 PVCs in 24 hour perio... Read More
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 45-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Get checked out: If you have chest discomfor that is associated with exercise, it is always prudent to get it checked out. That being said, heart pain related to exerc... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 69-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Right bundle : Rbbb stands for right bundle branch block. Your heart has specialized conduction tissue to carry electrical information. The ventricles (bottom chambe... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 44-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Anyone: J.C., in general home oxygen _can_ be prescribed by any physician, but usually what it comes down to is 1) is it indicated, and 2) will insurance cove... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 39-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
No: The rule of thumb is about a billion heart beats for every 30 years. So you would have to live to 3000 to make it to a trillion heart beats!
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 36-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Few things: High blood pressure, a congenital condition like Marfan syndrome, or structural heart disease like having a bicuspid valve or aortic regurgitation. It... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Intercostal muscles: When running, particularly at speeds that cause your breathing rate to really increase, you use a lot of otherwise seldomly used muscles to breathe, i... Read More
4.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 29-year-old female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Unlikely to be heart: because of your age any chest pain is very unlikely to be heart related. If you have had cardiac testing including an echocardiogram and perhaps a str... Read More
3.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old male asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Very unlikely: if your angiogram is normal and your ejection fraction is 50%, you are low risk of experiencing a life threatening arrhythmia even with the presence o... Read More
3.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 42-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Check for heart atta: Troponin is measured to check for a heart attack, as troponin t is a specific protein that only the heart makes. If it is in the blood it means some h... Read More
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 41-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Can be normal: Many people notice this, especially sometimes when lying on their side at night. I have even heard people say it happens when they lie on one specific... Read More
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
Biggest: probably because they are the biggest artery and vein in the body!
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A female asked:
Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasananswered
Internal Medicine - Cardiology 19 years experience
It depends. : It depends on the leg pain pattern. If you are getting leg pain with walking (claudication) it could indicate a blockage in an artery in the leg. Howe... Read More
4.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
TestimonialsRecommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
Recommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
3
Recommendations
136
Thank you notes
HealthTap member
Mar 30, 2015
Dr. Mutharasan is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. Mutharasan is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. Mutharasan is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Thank you, your quick reply made me feel good! Thanks doc. I was getting worried during exercise. Anxiety likely
HealthTap member
Thank you, your answer was very helpful! Thank you that's what I think and yes he has almost every risk factor
HealthTap member
Thank you, your answer was very helpful! Thank you so much! That's what I thought but I was just pretty nervous
Education & Training
Medical/Graduate school
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, IL
Graduated 2003MD
Residency
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Completed 2006
Awards
Northwestern University Searle Teaching Fellowship
Department of Medicine Teaching Award
Dixon Translational Research Grant Award
Affiliations
Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
American Heart Association
Publications
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
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