: Introduction: In December of 1992, my paternal grandfather suffered a heart attack. He had been hauling several 50 lb. sacks of corn up into the deer feeder on his property by himself. He got into his truck, turned the ignition, put it into drive and before he could take his foot off the brake, he was dead. He was 68 years old. I was thirteen and that seemed so old. I remember that prior to the event there were many conversations within my family about the condition of my grandfather’s heart and cardiovascular system and how he needed to make lifestyle changes. I remember him taking nitroglycerine pills. I remember him coming to Dallas to go to an appointment so that they could perform tests with names like “stress EKG.” I …show more content…
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III: Myocardial Infarction: Pathophysiology The most common physiological process leading to a myocardial infarction is the occlusion of coronary arteries by a process known as atherosclerosis. In fact, atherosclerosis is present in more than 90% of persons with coronary heart disease.1 Atherosclerosis is the process in which substances known as plaques, which are made up of cholesterol and platelets, adhere to tears in the walls of arteries. Over time these plaques build up to the point where they occlude blood flow in the arteries. When this happens in the coronary arteries, either directly, as the result of buildup in the arteries themselves, indirectly in the form a clot from another part of the body breaking loose and becoming lodged in the coronary arteries, the usual result is a heart attack.3 Many risk factors can contribute to this process. Some of them like age, gender and genetics are non-modifiable, meaning there is not much that can be done about them. Others, like drug abuse, smoking, stress, diet and exercise are modifiable, meaning an individual has control over them.3 Among the non-modifiable risk factors, age plays a role because naturally, over time, body tissues become weaker and more prone to damage, therefore more prone to attracting the attachment of cholesterol and platelet plaques. Genetics contributes by causing some individuals to be more prone to high cholesterol and high blood
Hypertension is a modifiable because individuals cannot be innate with it but can develop it over time. Hypertension effects ischemic heart disease by creating little tears in the walls of the arteries causing scar tissue, which increases the chances of a blood clot forming (Hypertension, 2016). An unhealthy diet is considered modifiable risk factor because and individual is able to control the amount and type of food he/she consumes. This can be a risk factor leading to ischemic heart disease because of high levels calories or sodium being consumed, with excessive sodium circulating, extra water is pulled into the body to flush out the excesses sodium. With increased water in the vessels, blood volume increases and pressure increases as well. Lastly, smoking is also a modifiable risk factor due to the fact an individual has the ability to control whether or not they want to smoke. Smoking causes various harmful chemicals to enter the body, which can lead to the increase
With the increased consumption of fast-food and poor lifestyle choices, we have become an increasingly obese nation. For this reason, diseases such as cardiovascular disease have been on the rise. Cardiovascular disease is the combined term for a number of diseases concerning the heart and the blood vessels. Many of these life threatening diseases are related to a condition called atherosclerosis. The condition creates plaque build-up on the walls of the blood vessels. The plaque effects the flow of blood making it harder and can lead to blood clots which stops the flow of blood altogether. The two main effects to this are heart attacks and strokes however, other types of cardiovascular disease includes complete heart failure, arrhythmia
Coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is a dysfunction of the cardiovascular system in which the heart muscle is damaged as a result of a blocked coronary artery (VanMeter & Hubert, 2014, p.233). This condition includes both partial, temporary cardiac ischemia, or angina pectoris, and total obstruction of a coronary artery, also referred to as myocardial infarction or heart attack (VanMeter & Hubert, 2014, p.233, 239-241). Occlusion of the arteries of the heart results in inadequate oxygenation of the myocardium and eventual irreversible damage and cell death. Atherosclerosis, a leading cause of coronary heart disease, starts with an injury and progresses to damaged endothelial cells within an artery. The damage can be caused by smoking, hypertension, toxins, among other factors. The injury and damage causes inflammation and accumulation of white blood cells and lipids in the inner lining of the artery (VanMeter & Hubert, 2014, p.234-235). As time goes on, plaque forms and inflammation continues prompting platelets to stick to the walls of the artery, and eventually causes obstruction of the vessel. (VanMeter & Hubert, 2014, p.235).
This is also called ischemia. It may be chronic, caused by narrowing of the coronary artery and limitation of the blood supply to part of the muscle. Or it can be acute, resulting from a sudden plaque that ruptures (American Heart Association)”.
Coronary artery disease (CAD; also more simply referred to as coronary heart disease) is a specific type of atherosclerosis, which is in turn a form of arteriosclerosis (Dulson, Fraser, LeDrew, & Vavitas, 2011). All of these medical conditions entail the same problem, which hinders proper blood flow of oxygenated blood in the arteries: the sclerosis (that is, hardening) of arteries in the circulatory system (Sclerosis [medicine], 2016). Arteriosclerosis is a general term used to describe the stiffening of arteries particularly resulting from the process of mere ageing, but may also occur due to the presence of other aspects such as hypertension and/or the accumulation of plaque in and/or on the arterial walls, which consists of numerous components including lipids (cholesterol in particular), calcium, and other substances present within the bloodstream; atherosclerosis is specifically associated with plaque buildup in the arteries (if it occurs in one of the coronary arteries, which supply oxygenated blood to the myocardial tissue itself, it is further classified as CAD) (Difference between arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis, 2014; Dulson et al., 2011). CAD is a common, serious condition that may be fatal; hence, it is imperative that one understands the pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of this disease in order to help decrease its prevalence. This report is concerned with explaining the physiological effects of CAD on the body, latter-day
1. Coronary thrombosis - is when a clot forms inside one of the arteries in the heart. This clot will block blood flow resulting in a heart attack.
Any individual may have few to multiple risk factors for disease. Predisposing factors, or risk factors, make a person more susceptible to disease. They do not cause the disease. Predisposing factors are age, sex, environment, lifestyle, and heredity.
We are all familiar with the term “heart attack.” Perhaps you know someone who has had a heart attack, or even died from one. But, do we really understand what a heart attack is? Let’s start by breaking down the scientific name of a heart attack: myocardial infarction. “Myo” means muscle; “cardial” refers to the heart; and “infarction” is the death of tissue due to lack of blood supply. Just from that analysis, we can break it down and get a basic idea of what happens when people have heart attacks.
Farrell & Dempsey (2014) suggests that the main cause of myocardial infarction (MI) is the underlying coronary artery disease (CAD), such as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis, is the abnormal accumulation of lipids, fatty substances or fibrous tissue in the lining of arterial blood vessels. These deposits, called atheromas, cause a narrowing or blockage of the arterial lumen which reduces blood flow to the myocardium. If the atheroma becomes too large it may rupture or haemorrhage into a plaque. The ruptured plaque becomes a site for thrombus formation, and this thrombus may then obstruct coronary blood flow resulting in an AMI
– Modifiable risk factors include: alcohol consumption, tobacco use, low body weight, osteoporosis, estrogen deficiency,
Myocardial infarction in most cases is usually experienced in the setting of coronary artery disease. A sequence of events is followed
A heart attack is called myocardial infarction and it can do something to your artery and muscle that will also stop the flowing of the blood. To restore blood supply to the muscle of the heart is that it prevent the heart damage of to death .nitroglycerin also spread the arterial wall and though and improving the blood flow to the heart muscle. The drug like it is also the most danger disease for anybody in the United States. There is four chamber in the heart and they is called ventricles, and artiums.There are two of each of the ventricles and atriums. It can also happen by the blood clot that is to narrow the coronary artery. The coronary and angioplasty artery
Coronary heart disease occurs due to the built up of plaque within coronary arteries. Coronary arteries play an important role in supply the oxygenated blood to cardiac muscles in the heart. The oxygenated blood supplies the cardiac muscles with oxygen and nutrients, so that the muscles are able to continue contract and relax and prevent them from tetanizing. Plaque is a waxy substance that blocks the coronary arteries, thus reducing rate of blood flow to heart muscle. This condition may lead to ineffective functioning of heart due to lack of nutrients and oxygen. To make the matter worse, accumulated plaque becomes atherosclerosis where this substance grows and eventually cause damaging effects which is
The cause of coronary artery disease is atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. This occurs when fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up on the walls of arteries and form hard structures called plaque. Over time, this plaque can block the arteries and cause problems throughout the entire body (Newton,
The formation of coronary thrombus on an atherosclerotic plaque, leading to total or sub-total occlusion of the coronary artery, is the key event that causes acute ischemic syndromes as