Coronary heart disease, coronary artery disease (CAD) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) are synonyms and include a range of diseases such as stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death .
Coronary heart disease occurs when cholesterol and other substances are accumulated inside the blood vessels called plaque itself and the arteries supplying blood and oxygen are blocked in the heart itself. Stenosis of the artery is called atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis. It occurs in one of the major cardiac supply arteries, causing a heart attack, stroke or peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
It reduces the elasticity of the blood vessel or narrows the internal area which limits the normal flow of blood. It causes myocardial oxygen deficiency and causes chest pain, also called angina pectoris.
Angina pectoris has two types:
Stable angina is chest pain occurring periodically in different activities. Unstable angina is also when angina changes its intensity and can lead to myocardial infarction.
CAD weakens blood muscles and leads to a decline in the function of the heart when sending blood into the body. This is called heart failure. It also develops irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias.
Occasionally rupture of the plaque occurs, clogs somewhere in the artery, completely blocks the blood flow and oxygen blocked from that particular area causes a permanently damaged myocardium or scar.
Cause: Cholesterol is deposited in the inner layer of myocardial blood vessels.
Symptom: Initial detection of disease,
• Dyspnea (dyspnea)
• Chest pain (discomfort to the chest discomfort, travel to the shoulders, arms, back, neck, jaw)
• sweating
• Nausea
• Dyspepsia
• Heartburn
•weakness
Person at risk: If you are at risk of receiving IHD,
• Hypertension
•smoker
•Diabetes
• Obesity
• High blood cholesterol
• High resting heart rate
• Depression and stress
• Kidney disease
• Family history
• Lack of exercise
• Poor diet
• Excessive alcohol intake
• 40-year old men and women are at high risk of developing this disease.
Diagnostic tests: There are many tests useful for CAD diagnosis:
• ECD or EKD: Measure electrical activity, rate and regularity of heart beat.
• Chest radiographs: Take pictures of the heart, lungs and other organs of the chest.
• Echocardiogram: Ultrasound is used to draw the heart.
• Exercise stress test (EST): Heart rate is measured while walking on the treadmill.
• Cardiac catheterization method: Inspect a cardiac artery by inserting a thin flexible tube into the artery of the groin, arm or neck, reaching the heart, collecting a blood sample and injecting pigment.
• Coronary angiogram: The injected dye is detected by X-rays, pointing to the occluded area of the artery.
Prevention: In order to keep the disease in the bay, people control by medication,
•blood pressure
•Diabetes
•cholesterol
• Appropriate meals
• Regular exercise
• Alcohol intake is low
Management: Lifestyle change is very useful for living fit and health. Drugs useful in managing diseases include:
• Antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin
• Statins
• Beta blocker
• Calcium antagonists
· Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor
·Nitroglycerin.
Several procedures are also performed to increase the internal width of the arteries, such as coronary stents and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
