Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) or Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) are the medical terms for the development of narrower or blocked blood vessels around the heart due to the build-up of fatty deposits known as atheroma. These deposits can lead to chest pain known as angina. If part of one of these deposits breaks off, it can cause a clot in the blood flow to the brain which may result in a stroke or even interrupts the flow of oxygen to a heart muscle and therefore cause a heart attack.
Signs Of Heart Disease
The most common symptom of advanced heart disease is chest pain, but sufferers may also experience shortness of breath and heart palpitations. When a patient arrives at the doctor or hospital with chest pains or an irregular heartbeat, a range of tests will be performed to aid in the diagnosis of the patient’s illness. These tests can include blood tests, x-rays and scans, ECGs and stress tests to determine if the patient has heart disease and if so, where any blockages or obstructions are located.
Patients with no apparent symptoms will also be screened for signs of heart disease by their GP at regular check-ups as they get older. This is done by measuring a patient’s blood pressure and cholesterol levels. By maintaining blood pressure and cholesterol levels within an acceptable range, it is usually possible to prevent patients from developing serious coronary heart disease.
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is often the most obvious symptom sign that the patient is at risk of developing (or already has) coronary heart disease. When the heart muscles are damaged, or its function is impaired by deposits in the arteries, the heart has to increase the pressure at which the blood is pumped at to help it travel correctly around the body.
High Cholesterol
A high level of cholesterol in the blood is thought to be a major cause of the build-up of these fatty deposits in the coronary arteries. By using a simple blood test, doctors are able to determine whether a patient has high cholesterol and therefore at risk of developing heart disease.
What Can Be Done About Heart Disease?
Heart disease is treated by both medically and through lifestyle changes.
Lifestyle Changes
All patients who are suffering from high blood pressure or high cholesterol are advised to make lifestyle changes. This advice includes stopping smoking, reducing drinking and taking regular exercise. In addition, patients are advised to permanently adopt a diet designed to reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the body. This DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is proven to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol by increasing the number of whole grains, fruit, vegetables and nuts in the diet and reducing the consumption of sugar, processed carbohydrates and saturated fats.
In many cases, by adopting these lifestyle changes, patients are able to improve their heart health without needing any medication. Just making these lifestyle changes has been shown in medical studies to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol in many patients.
Medical Treatments
In acute situations, a patient will require angioplasty (insertion of a stent or balloon to widen the artery) or heart bypass surgery if their doctors fear that their condition is unstable and that they are at risk of an imminent heart attack.
In addition, patients with heart disease that is advanced or whose elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure are not being successfully reduced by lifestyle changes will be prescribed medication to help them manage their condition. This medication may include beta-blockers to improve blood flow, statins to lower cholesterol or other medications to widen and soften the arteries.