Epileptic seizure frequency fell by 86% in kids treated with whole ...
Heart Disease: Types, Causes, And Symptoms
There are many types of heart disease, and each one has its own symptoms and treatment. For some, lifestyle changes and medicine can make a huge difference in improving your health. For others, you may need surgery to make your ticker work well again.
Find out about some of the common types of heart disease and how to prevent them as well as how they're treated.
CAD is the most common heart problem. With CAD, you may get blockages in your coronary arteries -- the vessels that supply blood to your heart. That can lead to a decrease in the flow of blood to your heart muscle, keeping it from getting the oxygen it needs. The disease usually starts as a result of atherosclerosis, a condition sometimes called hardening of the arteries.
Coronary heart disease can give you pain in your chest, called angina, or lead to a heart attack.
Some things that may put you at a higher risk of coronary artery disease are:
When you have an arrhythmia, your heart has an irregular beating pattern. Serious arrhythmias often develop from other heart problems but may also happen on their own.
With heart failure, your heart doesn't pump blood as well as it should to meet your body's needs. It is usually caused by coronary artery disease, but it can also happen because you have thyroid disease, high blood pressure, heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy), or certain other conditions.
Your heart has four valves that open and close to direct blood flow between your heart's four chambers, the lungs, and blood vessels. An abnormality could make it hard for a valve to open and close the right way. When that happens, your blood flow could be blocked or blood can leak. Your valve may not open and close right.
The causes of heart valve problems include infections such as rheumatic fever, congenital heart disease, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, or as a result of a heart attack.
Diseases of the heart valves include:
Any disease of the pericardium, the sac that surrounds your heart, is called a pericardial disease. One of the more common diseases is pericarditis or inflammation of the pericardium.
It's usually caused by an infection with a virus, inflammatory diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, or injury to your pericardium. Pericarditis often follows open heart surgery.
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of your heart muscle, or myocardium. It gets stretched, thickened, or stiff. Your heart may get too weak to pump well.
There are many possible causes of the disease, including genetic heart conditions, reactions to certain drugs or toxins (such as alcohol), and infections from a virus. Sometimes, chemotherapy causes cardiomyopathy. Many times, doctors can't find the exact cause.
Congenital heart disease happens when something goes wrong while the heart is forming in a baby that's still in the womb. The heart abnormality sometimes leads to problems right after birth, but other times there aren't any symptoms until you become an adult.
Septal abnormalities are among the most common congenital heart problems. These are holes in the wall that separates the left and right sides of your heart. You can get a procedure to patch the hole.
Another type of abnormality is called pulmonary stenosis. A narrow valve causes a decrease in the flow of blood to your lungs. A procedure or surgery can open or replace the valve.
In some babies, a small blood vessel known as the ductus arteriosus doesn't close up at birth as it should. When this happens, some blood leaks back into the pulmonary artery, which puts strain on your heart. Doctors can treat this with surgery or a procedure or sometimes with medication.
What Is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)?
CAD Symptoms and DiagnosisCAD can take a long time to develop as plaque accumulates in the arteries.
Per the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms of CAD include:
Physical or emotional stress may trigger pressure or tightness in your chest, as if a large weight is resting on it. This pain is called angina, and it can be a sign of CAD.
Chest pain that occurs with exertion and is relieved with rest, or the medication nitroglycerin, is also typical of angina.
If you experience shortness of breath or extreme fatigue following exercise or physical stress, this could also be a sign of a blockage in the arteries leading to your heart.
Finally, a blocked coronary artery can cause a heart attack. You may feel pain in your left shoulder or arm, or intense pressure on your chest.
If you suspect you are having a heart attack, seek emergency assistance immediately. If you have any other symptoms of CAD, talk to your doctor.
If your doctor thinks you may have CAD or are at high risk for the disease, he or she may recommend the following tests, according to the Mayo Clinic:
For a stress test, your doctor may ask you to walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike while monitoring your heart by ECG.
Sometimes your doctor may use medication to elevate your heart rate.
CAD Causes and Risk FactorsDamage to the inner wall of the coronary arteries, leading to plaque buildup, can begin as early as childhood, notes the American Heart Association (AHA). This damage may be the result of:
In addition to these risk factors, simply getting older increases your risk for CAD. Men are also more likely than women to develop CAD, notes the CDC.
Researchers are also studying other factors that may lead to CAD, per the Mayo Clinic, including sleep apnea as well as:
Elevated levels of these substances will show up in blood tests.
If any risk factors for CAD apply to you — such as smoking or having high blood pressure — talk to your doctor.
Even if you don't have any signs or symptoms of CAD, your doctor may want to treat you for conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol to help reduce your future risk.
What Are Cardiac Arrest, Heart Attack And Heart Failure?
Heart disease is a leading killer around the world and the top cause of death in the United States. It killed an estimated 17.9 million people in 2019, representing 32% of all deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.
But not all heart disease is the same. It can affect the blood vessels to the heart or brain, heart muscles and valves, and other areas of the body. Cardiovascular diseases can require long-term treatment, or they can come on suddenly and seriously.
What is cardiac arrest?Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating the way it should.
In cardiac arrest, death can result quickly if steps aren't taken right away. "Cardiac arrest may be reversed if CPR is performed and a defibrillator shocks the heart and restores a normal heart rhythm within a few minutes," the American Heart Association says.
More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital in the United States each year, the association said.
A sudden, unexpected loss of heart function also results in a sudden loss of breathing and consciousness.
Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack, although almost any known heart condition, including heart attack, can cause cardiac arrest.
Another emergency that can lead to cardiac arrest, commotio cordis, is a disruption of heart rhythm after a blow to the area directly over the heart at a key time during a heartbeat cycle.
It's rare, but it mostly happens in boys and young men during sports. The American Heart Association says it's the leading cause of deaths in youth baseball in the United States, typically two to three per year.
Automated external defibrillators have helped increase the survival rate.
What is a heart attack?Unlike cardiac arrest, a heart attack is a circulation problem. When circulation is blocked or cut off in some way and blood is no longer supplied to the heart muscle, this can damage that muscle; it's commonly described as a heart attack; doctors may refer to it as myocardial infarction.
Blockages causing heart attacks are mostly caused by a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Plaque forms when cholesterol combines with fat, calcium and other substances in the blood.
Combined, these elements harden into plaque, which can then rupture, causing a blood clot to form. Large clots can completely block the flow of blood through an artery.
"People who are at risk for heart attacks are people who have a family history of heart attack, having high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, lack of exercise, cigarette smoking – the major risk factors we always discuss," Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, previously told CNN.
Another less frequent cause of a heart attack is a spasm caused by tobacco or possibly illicit drugs, such as cocaine, which disables the heart muscle, according to the American Heart Association. A tear in the artery, though rare, can also result in a heart attack.
Heart attacks can be fatal, but they do not automatically lead to death. Immediate emergency medical help can often prevent a serious outcome.
"If you think someone is having an heart attack, call 911. Don't wait," Goldberg said, explaining that the reason it's important to take an ambulance to the hospital instead of catching a ride with a family member or friend. An ambulance is equipped to offer treatment on the way to the hospital.
Common warning signs of a heart attack are discomfort or pain in the chest; discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including pain in in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach; and shortness of breath. Other possible signs include cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
Overall, heart attacks are more common than cardiac arrest in the United States.
What is heart failure?Heart failure is condition that happens when the heart, essentially a pump, cannot effectively push blood out through the arteries and circulatory system to the body's other organs and tissues.
Congestive heart failure, a worsening of this general condition, means blood flow from the heart through the arteries has slowed while blood returning to the heart through the veins has begun to back up and combined they cause congestion – a blood traffic jam – in the body's tissues.
The result is edema, or swelling, usually in the legs and ankles, though edema can happen anywhere in the body. Heart failure also impairs the kidneys' ability to dispose of water and sodium, causing even more swelling. When pulmonary edema happens, fluid collects in the lungs and interferes with breathing.
Conditions that can lead to heart failure include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and coronary artery disease: when plaque builds up in the walls of arteries causing them to narrow and increasing the difficulty of pumping blood.
Heart failure is a medical condition that needs to be treated to prevent a life-threatening heart attack, but is not as immediately life threatening as heart attack or cardiac arrest.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.Com
Comments
Post a Comment