Prevention | Heart Attack | Coronary Artery Disease | Angina Pectoris
Heart attack, an endemic disease
Many millions of people suffer from so-called coronary artery disease. This means deficient blood supply of the heart muscle, caused by narrowed coronary arteries. This deficient blood supply leads – especially during physical activity – to an imbalance between the demand and supply of oxigen.
Arteriosclerosis of the coronary arteries
One of the main triggers is arteriosclerosis of the heart arteries: calcium depositis that impede the blood flow, impair the blood supply of the heart, or cut it off completely, grow in the inner walls of the arteries. If the heart arteries have disturbances of blood flow, angina with chest pain and, in case of complete blockage of the vessels, a heart attack, can be the result. Approximately 300,000 people suffer a heart attack in Germany each year; coronary artery disease is the most common cause of death in this country.
Angina pectoris: what it is
The term angina pectoris lumps together the complaints of coronary artery disease. These complaints are triggered by the elevated oxygen demand of the heart muscle, which can lead in the end to so-called coronary spasms (attack-like narrowing of the coronary arteries). They can be caused by physical or emotional stress, excitement, cold or excessively abundant meals. The angina pain can be a dull pressure sensation or a burning behind the breast bone. This pain can radiate in the left or right arm, in the shoulders, neck, cheeks or teeth, sometimes even to the stomach area. It lasts between five and 20 minutes. If physical activity stops, the pain disappears. Nitroglycerin alleviates the complaints significantly in two to five minutes.
Risk factors - prophylaxis
The risk factors include elevated blood fats (cholesterol), stress, smoking, diabetes, overweight and high blood pressure. The most important preventive measure is limitation of these risk factors. There are different procedures to dilate the coronary arteries and the last resort is a bypass operation.
Articles from our archive, containing topics related to prevention
Bouts of Anger Protect the Heart
Caffeine Wakes Up or Disturbs our Cardiac Rhythm
Japanese Apricots Protect The Heart and the Arteries
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