Coronary Artery Disease Essay

The cardiovascular disease defines conditions that affect the heart or blood vessels. Thrombosis, which emanates from blood clots, reduced blood flow to the heart, brain and the rest of the body. When fatty acids deposit in the artery, it hardens and narrows. These issues lead to stroke, coronary heart disease, aortic disease and peripheral arterial disease. Coronary heart disease occurs due to a reduced or blocked flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart. It is a result of accumulated fats in the coronary arteries. Coronary arteries are a set of blood vessels that take blood to the heart. When they become narrow, the heart gets less of a supply of blood and oxygen causing chest pains, called angina or a heart attack, explains VanMeter &

Another word used to describe a heart attack is myocardial infarction, cardiac infarction and coronary thrombosis. A heart attack is the death of a part of the heart caused by the loss of blood supply. The blood supply is usually gone due to a coronary artery being blocked by a blood clot. When a part of a heart artery breaks a blood clot forms around the piece. This blood clot can block the blood flow through the heart muscle. When the heart muscle needs oxygen it is called ischemia. When damage of a part of the heart muscle happens it’s called a heart attack. During a heart attack damage occurs depending on the size of the area blocked by the blood clot as well as the time between the actual heart attack and the treatment. Even though the heart may be hurt, the rest of the organs work with no problems. However, it will not pump as much blood as it used to in order to supply the same amount of blood to all of the parts of the body.

A heart attack occurs when the oxygenated blood that typically flows to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off. This happens because the coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood slowly become narrow from built up plaque. If a piece of plaque breaks off, a blood clot typically forms around the plaque and the clot can block the blood flow through the heart. When blood flow is blocked, the muscles of the heart becomes starved for oxygen and nutrients, this is known as ischemia. Because the body needs oxygen to carry out vital life processes, ischemia can cause damage or death to parts of the heart muscles. When damage occurs it is called a heart attack or myocardial infarction (American Heart

Coronary Heart Disease Coronary heart disease is the most common form of heart disease. It is a general term for both heart attack and angina. Many people suffer from it and 500,000 Americans die from it each year. It is much more common in older people and in males. However, women tend to be older and sicker when they are first treated for a heart attack.

Coronary artery disease affects the circulatory system. Chemically, this disease develops when blood vessels that are necessary for living become badly damaged. Cholesterol plaques become inflamed in the arteries. The most common signs and symptoms are chest pains which tighten the chest as if someone were standing on it. Shortening of breath also affects those with this disease because the heart is unable to supply enough blood. A major sign of this disease is having a heart attack. This indicates an artery that is completely blocked. This disease is caused by damaging the coronary arteries by smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. To diagnose this disease, medical physicians will perform physical exams and examine blood

A heart attack occurs when an artery that supplies blood to the heart becomes blocked. The loss of oxygen and nutrients damage the heart's muscle tissue, causing the remaining healthy tissue to pump even harder to keep up.

Heart disease refers to a variety of different conditions that affect the heart's muscle, valves or rhythm. These conditions include angina, severe chest pain, arrhythmia,

Coronary Artery Disease, also known as CAD, is the most common form of heart disease. (Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2009) Coronary Artery Disease obstructs the blood flow in vessels that provides blood to the heart which is caused by the buildup of plaque on the artery walls. (Rogers, 2011, p.87) (Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2009) Plaque is a yellow substance that consists of fat substances, like cholesterol, and narrows or clogs the arteries which prevents blood flow. (Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2009) Plaque can build up in any artery but usually favors large and medium sized arteries. (Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2009)

The most common heart disease that most people have is coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease tends to cause heart attacks. When a substance of plaque builds up in your arteries, heart disease may occur. When plaque builds up, a person’s arteries can narrow over time, limiting blood flow to the heart. This could also block the blood flow. This process is called

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) it is also know as Coronary Artery Disease. It happens when the blood vessels delivering to the heart develop blockage or are narrowed by plaque, which reduces the flow of the blood, oxygen and nutrients supplied to the heart. If this happens the person starts to feel chest pain (also known as angina pectoris) and then it lead to the person to have a heart attack. It is known to be the main factor to cause cardiac arrest and it can be fatal unless the heart is restarted in minutes.

e) Myocardial infarction: Myocardial infarction is a heart attack. “Myocardial infarction occurs when blood supply to a part of the myocardium is interrupted. This can be caused by a lack of blood flow, obstruction by a clot, or a rupture of plaque build up.”

Coronary Heart Disease Coronary heart disease remains the most common cause of death in the United Kingdom. A statistic from the American Heart Association is that heart disease claims a life every 24 seconds. [www.americanheart.org] Another is that it is the largest single cause of premature death in the United Kingdom, responsible for 180 000 deaths annually. [www.americanheart.org]

The heart is an organ that pumps blood from the body and maintains all the organs functioning to keep one alive; when one of the arteries that receive blood is blocked it can cause a heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI). “During a heart attack, the heart muscle (the myocardium) is damaged, and part of it die from lack of blood” (book, p. 429).

“Sometimes a heart attack is not just a heart attack, but the result of spontaneous tearing in the coronary artery wall. The artery wall has three layers and when a tear occurs, blood is able to pass through the innermost layer and become trapped and bulge inward. This narrows or blocks the artery

A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, usually occurs when a blood clot forms inside a coronary artery at the site of an atherosclerotic plaque. The blood clot severely limits or completely cuts off blood flow to part of the heart. In a small percentage of cases, blood flow is cut off when the muscles in the artery wall contract suddenly, constricting the artery. This constriction, called vasospasm, can occur in an artery that is only slightly narrowed by atherosclerosis or even in a healthy artery. Regardless of the cause of a heart attack, the oxygen deprivation is so severe and prolonged that heart muscle cells begin to die for lack of oxygen. About 1.1 million people in the United States have a heart attack every year;