"You have coronary heart disease." When your doctor says one word for you or someone you love, it's scary and confusing. You probably have dozens of questions: What is coronary heart disease? Should I change my lifestyle?
Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease (CAD) or ischemic heart disease, a form of heart disease that is caused by narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply the heart. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with CHD, it can help you to know that you are not alone. In fact, CHD is the most common form of heart disease, affecting at least 12 million Americans. This is the biggest killer of men and women in the United States, responsible for nearly half a million deaths each year, or about 1 of every 5 deaths. CHD causes almost all heart attacks (myocardial infarction). Every 29 seconds an American suffers from coronary events (infarction or fatal CHD), and every minute one of us will die from one. The American Heart Association estimates that this year alone, more than a million Americans will suffer from new or recurrent coronary events, and nearly 40 percent of those who will die from it.
Coronary heart disease is not just an American problem. CHD is very common in other Western countries, too, like many in Europe. Cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke ("stroke") kills more people worldwide than any other Health Organization estimates that 30 percent of all deaths caused by heart and circulatory diseases such as KBS.
The good news is that you must not become another statistic KBS. There is a lot you can do to minimize the risk of heart attack or death from CHD. Sometimes just a change of lifestyle - after a heart-healthy diet, regular exercise and reduce stress in your life, can prevent heart attack or even reverse narrowing of the arteries. There are a number of new drugs and developing every day that can help reduce the risk of heart attack. Surgical procedures such as angioplasty and stenting or bypass surgery can help compensate for blockage in the arteries and help keep your heart to supply blood needs. Educate yourself about treatment options, and working closely with your doctor you and your doctor can choose the best treatments that will allow you to live long and healthy life.
Circulatory system
Is the first step in taking charge of your CHD is to learn everything you can about the disease. To understand the KSF and how it affects your heart, you have to understand a little about your heart and how it works.
Your circulatory system, also known as your cardiovascular system, consists of the heart, lungs and blood vessels called arteries and veins. This system carries blood, food and oxygen to every cell in the body. It also carries waste products from cells outside the body. (The station is a block of every tissue and organ in the body.) Think of your circulatory system as a busy highway system composed of massive highways and major streets that feed into smaller and smaller streets and ultimately into the small streets and alleys. This system is composed entirely of one-way street. In our imaginary highways, cars, or in this case, blood can flow in only one street called arteries and arterioles (small arteries) carry blood enriched with oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the heart in street called veins and venules (small veins) carry blood loaded with harmful substances from the cells back to the heart.
Between the two-way street systems are tiny blood vessels called capillaries. Almost too small to see, and often thinner than a strand of hair, veins connect the smallest arteries with the smallest vessels. They are the brides that link our two-way system these tiny capillaries are so thin that the food and oxygen in the blood pass through them in the surrounding cells. These thin walls and allow waste products from cells to pass into the capillaries. This allows the blood to carry waste from the stations to be removed by the kidneys, liver and lungs.
If you imagine a drop of blood flowing through the system, it might look something like drops, full of oxygen and nutrients (fuel) is pumped out from the left side of the heart's largest artery. There is pouring into progressively smaller arteries and eventually into the capillaries, where it delivers its load of oxygen and food for cells. At the same time, the blood picks up waste products from cells and affects the tiny blood vessels, and then in larger and larger veins. Finally, the blood droplet arrives back on the right side of the heart, where it is pumped to the lungs and unload carbon dioxide and pick up a fresh supply of oxygen, and begin to cruise again.
Heart: Amazing Pumps
Located in the center of the chest and protected by the breastbone and ribs, the heart is actually a double pump that is divided into four chambers, two upper and two one donje.Tanak wall of muscle separating the left and right sides srca.Vrh chamber (atrium or hall ) and the lower chamber (chamber) associated valves that act as a one-way door. The valves make sure blood flows only in one direction. In the heart, blood is pumped from the left and right room on the left and right ventricles. On the right side of the heart sends blood to the of the heart pumps blood to the cells in the body.
Coronary arteries
Just like other muscles in the body, the heart needs its own supply of blood and oxygen to work properly. Although the heart pumps blood through the chambers, the heart does not receive a significant food out of the blood. There is a separate set of arteries that branch off the aorta (main artery that receives blood from the left ventricle), which provide blood supply to the heart. These are called coronary arteries rounded on top and sides of the heart brings an abundance of oxygen-rich blood to main coronary artery left coronary artery and right coronary arteries. These vessels divide into many smaller coronary arteries that supply the heart.
What is coronary heart disease?
Healthy coronary arteries have a smooth, flexible walls that provide plenty of blood to the heart. However, over many years, these flexible walls may become irritated and damaged gradually, as the matter of fat, cholesterol, calcium, cellular remnants, and platelets (tiny cells responsible for blood clotting). When the walls of the arteries are damaged, these substances are able to "hold" on them. Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs when coronary arteries become narrowed and blocked you.
This buildup in artery walls is a process called atherosclerosis, which produces a substance known as plaque. How to build, the board is a lot like dirt, fat and minerals that build up in your home plumbing. As the buildup becomes thicker, the flow through the tube becomes less and less and May even stop completely. Similarly, when your heart is not getting enough oxygen because of narrowed arteries, May you feel the pressure in the chest or pain called angina. If the blood supply to part of the heart completely cut off, the result is often a heart attack.
Everyone has a certain amount of atherosclerosis as they age. For many of us, atherosclerosis begins in childhood. Some people are rapidly increasing in the formation of atherosclerotic plaque after 30 years. For others, the plaque buildup does not become a problem until we are in our 50s or 60s.
What causes CHD
We do not know for sure why it happens atherosclerosis, and even how to start, but there are several theories. Some medical experts believe atherosclerotic deposits in the inner layer of the artery can be caused by several conditions, including:
* Increased levels of LDL cholesterol (low density lipoprotein) and triglyceride levels
* Low levels of HDL cholesterol (high density lipoprotein)
* High blood pressure
* Tobacco smoke
* High blood sugar (diabetes) inflammation.
It is likely that more than one process involved in the formation of plaque. Many researchers believe that when the excess fat in combination with oxygen, they become trapped in the arterial wall. This attracts white blood cells that help prevent infection when the damaged tissue. Then call the substance of prostaglandins, which are covered in blood and changing the tone (strength) of the arteries, they become active. Any injury to the artery wall, such as damage from smoking, can trigger prostaglandini.Aktivira prostaglandins stimulate more plaque growth and narrow the arteries and / or cause blood clots to form.
No matter how much plaque forms, a new board is composed largely of living cells. In fact, about 85 percent of the advanced panel consists of cell waste, calcium, smooth muscle cells, connective tissue, and foam cells (white blood cells that have digests fat). About 15 percent of the advanced plaque consists of fat.
After the plaque develops, the plaque contains cells can be easily damaged. This can lead to the formation of blood clots in the plaque outside. Small clots may further damage the other layers of the wall of blood vessels and encourage more plaque growth. Larger blood clots can partially or completely blocked arteries.
In addition to hinder or completely block blood flow, plaque can interfere with the ability of the arteries expand and contract. To meet the ever-changing bodies need for blood, the arteries should be strong and elastic. For example, when you exercise, your body needs more blood. The heart responds pumping faster and the arteries respond by expanding to accommodate increased blood volume expands to accommodate the increased volume of blood from the heart. As the arteries become narrowed and hard, that the elasticity is lost. Arteries that atherosclerotic plaques are more apt to cramp (temporarily narrow), causing even less blood flow to the heart and can cause chest pain or heart attack.
