Cardiologists are concerned with conditions related to the heart and blood vessels. Most of them will use medications to treat these conditions, but others can perform minimally invasive procedures such as ablation and angioplasty. If a cardiologist can’t treat your conditions using medication, then there is what heart or cardiac surgeons enter the picture. Heart surgeons, also referred to as cardiothoracic surgeons, are concerned with doing operations that require the opening of the chest cavity. These are major and complicated surgeries used to address serious heart-related conditions. In simpler terms, cardiologists usually rely on medications, while heart surgeons use surgical procedures. In most cases, a heart specialist can be both.