What is Coronary Artery Disease?

Blood enters the heart through two main coronary arteries, and the heart is nourished by a network of blood vessels on the surface of the heart's muscles. Cholesterol and fat deposits are formed in the arteries, narrowing the channels. This condition is called atherosclerosis. Blood flowing in the arteries forms a blood clot, which blocks the arteries. When physically or psychologically stressed, the heart beats faster and requires more oxygen and nutrients. This is a condition that the coronary arteries cannot cope with when they are severely narrowed or blocked. As a result, insufficient coronary blood supply can cause angina or heartache. The blood flow to the heart muscle is suddenly reduced in large quantities due to a clot blocking a coronary artery, and a heart attack is called coronary heart disease.

Coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease symptoms

The severity of coronary arteriosclerosis varies. Mild lesions have no significant effect on the heart and do not produce symptoms. Heavier lesions can cause narrowing of the lumen. At a certain level, although the blood it supplies can meet the normal needs of the myocardium, when the workload of the heart increases (such as severe labor or emotional agitation), the blood supply of the myocardium will be insufficient, resulting in angina, arrhythmia, and heart failure. .

Coronary Artery Disease Hazard

When the larger branches of the coronary arteries are completely or almost completely blocked, the corresponding myocardium is necrotic due to lack of blood supply, and a myocardial infarction occurs. Chest pain during myocardial infarction, similar in nature to angina, but more severe. Unlike angina pectoris, there are no certain predisposing factors. The pain lasts for a long time, often up to several hours or even 1 to 2 days. Severe symptoms include shock, heart failure, arrhythmia, nausea, vomiting, and fever. There are a series of special ECG changes when myocardial infarction occurs. At the same time, serum glutamate-oxaloacetate aminotransferase and creatine phosphokinase are increased. These two tests are valuable for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. In coronary arteriosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, heart failure, and even heart failure. In addition, it often causes various arrhythmias. If you have coronary artery disease and leave it untreated, your arterial occlusion can get worse. The blood supply to the heart is then greatly reduced, there is a risk of a heart attack, and it may result in death. However, even after a major heart attack, the heart may return to a fairly healthy level. But sometimes the heart is severely damaged, which weakens its pumping function, which can cause heart failure.

Coronary Artery Disease Response

Coronary artery disease can be effectively treated with medicine or surgery. Doctors use various drugs to reduce the burden on the heart muscle and prevent arrhythmias. There are two types of surgical procedures to treat coronary artery disease. One is called coronary artery dilation angioplasty, which is a small operation; the other is called coronary artery bypass graft, which is a large operation. If a blood clot occludes a coronary artery, the doctor can

It can inject a drug that dissolves blood clots in the systemic circulatory system within one or two hours of the patient's onset to restore blood to normal. Unfortunately, despite substantial advances in treatment, many people still die from coronary artery disease, and usually die within an hour or two after symptoms appear. Most cardiologists believe that reducing the number of deaths from coronary artery disease lies in emphasizing the importance of prevention, especially advising people not to smoke and teaching people about the early symptoms of a heart attack. If anyone has a crushing pain in the center of the chest, accompanied by dyspnea, sweating, or feeling dizzy, this person will almost certainly have a heart attack and need urgent medical attention.

When performing coronary artery disease

Coronary artery dilation angioplasty expands the narrowed part of the artery from the inside to restore normal blood flow. Your doctor will insert a long, thin tube (catheter) into an artery on your arm or leg, and pass through the artery under X-ray fluoroscopy into the coronary arteries. This duct contains a tough plastic balloon. The catheter places the balloon over a narrow part of the artery and inflates it. The inflated balloon compresses the soft substance in the plaque (fat deposits) on the arterial wall, and restores the caliber of the artery to normal. This method can be used to expand several narrow sections in one operation. This operation can be performed by performing local anesthesia on the patient, which lasts about 45 minutes before and after. If the narrow or blocked area of the coronary arteries is too wide to be treated with coronary angioplasty (or the blood cannot be returned to normal after trials), another alternative is to perform coronary bypass surgery. This is a major operation that requires the heart to stop beating during bypass surgery. During this time, the patient's blood circulation and breathing are performed by a heart-lung machine, so that the patient's brain and other major organs can get enough oxygenated blood supply. The doctor will make an incision in one leg of the patient and remove a segment of venous tube. At the same time, the doctor opened the patient's chest and exposed the heart. The doctor then used the section of the vein tube removed from the patient's leg to make one or more bypass grafts that bypassed the blocked site of the coronary artery to restore normal blood flow. Patients undergo general anesthesia when performing this procedure, and all operations usually take four to five hours.

After coronary artery disease surgery

The patient will stay in the intensive care unit for a few days, and the medical staff will monitor the patient's heartbeat at any time and supply the liquid and blood required by the patient by intravenous drip. The doctor will also put several tubes in the patient's chest for surgical drainage. Patients need to take oxygen through a nasal tube, and they need assistance from a breathing aid. You must be hospitalized for about two weeks after surgery.

Recovery of coronary artery disease

It takes at least a few weeks to recover after the operation. After recovery, the doctor will recommend which activities to participate in and when to resume daily life.

Long-term prognosis of coronary artery disease

Research reports indicate that people with severe coronary heart disease have prolonged their lives after undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Moreover, this surgery has a significant effect on relieving angina pectoris, and thousands of people undergo this surgery every year. However, research reports also show that -blocker drugs are also effective in treating coronary heart disease, which can lower blood pressure, slow the heart rate, and reduce the load on the heart.

Coronary artery disease

Coronary arterial spasm is a group of clinical syndromes in which a transient contraction of the epicardial conducting arteries causes partial or complete occlusion of blood vessels and leads to myocardial ischemia. Coronary arterial spasm is the basic cause of a variety of cardiac ischemic diseases, including variant angina pectoris, unstable angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction, and sudden death. Coronary arterial spasm easily occurs in coronary arteries with atherosclerosis, and occasionally in the "normal" coronary arteries. Any branch or branches of it can be affected.