HEART PROBLEMS
Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary artery disease is the UK’s biggest killer. More than 110,000 people die of heart disease every year, whilst another 1.4 million people suffer with angina. Approximately 275,000 have a heart attack or myocardial infarction every year. Risk factors for developing coronary heart disease are smoking, excess alcohol intake, obesity (a condition which has risen dramatically in the UK over the past 20 years), diabetes, high blood pressure, and lack of physical exercise.
There are 2 main forms of Coronary artery disease: firstly Angina, which is generally a pain felt in the chest, but can also be felt in the left side of the upper body, neck, jaw or down the left arm. Angina is classically brought on by exertion and/or exercise, although it can come on at rest in severe cases. For a few people, it is self limiting, in that if the sufferer stops and rests, the pain will resolve. For the majority of sufferers however, it is likely that they will need to take GTN (a drug that improves the blood flow to the heart by dilating the blood vessels) in the form of a spray, under the tongue to relieve the symptoms. Angina is caused by the narrowing of the coronary arteries by Atheroma. This is a fatty substance that builds up in the heart over a period of years before symptoms manifest. Once Atheroma has developed, there is no way to remove it effectively. Symptoms of heart disease are managed by drug therapy, invasive coronary interventions, or a combination of both. In some cases, it may be necessary to undergo angioplasty or coronary artery bypass, in order to restore blood flow to a blocked area of the heart.
The second form of heart disease is far more serious. Myocardial infarction (or heart attack as it is more commonly known) results when there is a complete blockage of an artery supplying the heart. Heart attack pain is very similar to angina except that in most cases resting and GTN spray will have no effect on treating the pain. This is a medical emergency and requires rapid hospitalisation and treatment to open the artery by either thrombolysis or an invasive intervention known as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Sometimes the infarction is so severe, that it will be necessary to proceed straight to open heart bypass.