Introduction Our body system is not immune to pathological deficiencies. There exist numerous identified pathologies which compromise the regular functioning of a heart, but all heart-related pathologies are narrowed to a single condition known as Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). This is the term properly used in reference to the different identified clinical entities threatening the cardiovascular system. ACS is the result of the progressive or complete sudden blocking of the arteries or veins; this prevents an appropriate blood flow through the circulatory system, and as a consequence, the body is unable to receive enough oxygen and nutrients to meet its daily necessities.
This makes ACS a life-threatening form of coronary heart disease (CHD) that involves three mayor types of conditions: unstable angina, thrombosis, and atrial fibrillation. Even though there are many other conditions for ACS, these three are the most common causes of death for American citizens. This syndrome has become a serious issue in the last decade. Many people are unaware of what ACS is and how dangerous it is. ACS is responsible for the death of about 600,000 people only in the United States alone-that is 1 of every 4 deaths. Around other parts of the world, ACS was projected by the World Health Organization (WHO) to become the single largest cause of death worldwide by the year 2020 (Lu and Nordin, 2013).
Today, suggested treatments depend on patients’ health and type of ACS condition. Such
Millions of Americans surrender to conditions that are both preventable and manageable annually. Besides chronic diseases, researchers have identified that the third leading cause of death in America is the errors conducted by professional medical practitioners. While medicine is a highly considered field, some of the practices that contribute to the errors observed include the absence of patient safety, poorly coordinated care, and inefficient healthcare quality improvement. Significant steps that can be taken to reduce deaths caused by medical errors include good communication, cooperation, use of advanced technology and implementation of quality healthcare among
The pathophysiology of ACS includes the stable plaque forms get converted into unstable plaque forms.2 These unstable plaque forms have numerous thin fibrous cap cells, inflammatory cells, activated macrophages, and smooth muscle cells. Sympathetic activity increases myocardial contractility, pulse rate, blood pressure, and coronary blood flow which leads to plaque rupture or fissure. As the artery ruptures, it causes thrombus formation and ischemia in this particular artery. Depending on the condition, different thrombi could form. The unstable angina forms a small thrombus formation, NSTEMI forms a partial thrombus formation, and STEMI forms a complete and persistent thrombus. The risk factors involved in ACS are age, physical inactivity, and history of hypertension, diabetes, or angina. The signs of acute coronary syndromes are an acute heart failure, tachycardia, bradycardia, or heart blockage, and the symptoms of ACS consist of chest pain, pain in the extremities, nausea, shortness of breath, heavy
2- Three leading causes of death in the United States that are given less attention than they deserve are cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory tract disease and Influenza and pneumonia.
Cancer is another leading cause of death in America. As I stated before in previous post, the best way to prevent any disease is to follow a healthy lifestyle that includes, performing some physical activities, eating a healthy diet, and tobacco free. Unfortunately a lot of us don’t make the effort to live a healthy lifestyle. As stated in the video by Dr. Jeff, healthy eating habit is a major way to prevent cancer. Another way is performing physical activities almost every day. Some other ways to prevent cancer include, no tobacco use. Smoking has been linked to various types of cancer including cancer of the lung, mouth, throat; this is a habit that people should definitely
Our body system is not immune to pathological deficiencies. There exist numerous identified pathologies which compromise the regular functioning of a heart, but all heart-related pathologies are narrowed to a single condition known as Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). This is the term formally used in reference to the different identified clinical entities threatening the cardiovascular system. ACS is the result of the progressive or complete sudden blocking of the arteries or veins; this prevents an appropriate blood flow through the circulatory system, and as a consequence, the body is unable to receive enough oxygen and nutrients to meet its daily necessities.
It is mainly as a result of one of these three problems: ST elevation myocardial infarction, unstable angina and lastly non ST elevation myocardial infarction with chest pain being the main symptom (Linton, 2012). There are five main pathophysiologic processes that contribute to the development of ACS: thrombus on pre-existing plaque, active obstruction from coronary spasm, progressive mechanical obstruction, infection and unstable angina due to oxygen supply to myocardial (Linton, 2012). ACS is mainly caused by thrombus formation on a pre-existing plaque and it can be demonstrated through angiography or autopsies (Marshall, 2010). A thrombus is formed from plasma coagulation and platelets. There are risk factors that contribute to ACS such as cigarette smoking, diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol (Linton, 2012). Both men and women are at a risk of having a heart attack. However it is more common in men especially when having a family background of heart attack, being overweight and inactive (Scruth, Carter, Cheng, Rolley, & Page, 2012). Modifying and identifying the risk factors is important as it can prevent further heart problems.
Atherosclerosis is almost worldwide. Although it is hard to estimate how common atherosclerosis is, almost all adults have various parts of the illness. Cardiovascular disease is the single most common cause of illness and death in the developed country accounting for one in three of all deaths! Heart attacks due to coronary artery disease and strokes due to carotid artery disease are responsible for more deaths than all other causes combined. According to statics more than 80,000 people with cardiovascular disease died in 2005, making it the No.1 killer in America. Not only that, but each year in England and Wales, an estimated 124,000 deaths are caused by CVD, where about 39,000 of them occur in people under the age of 75. Due to the continuing obesity prevalent, it is predicted that atherosclerosis will continue to be a major health problem in this country.
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the end result of the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the coronary arteries that supply the myocardium with oxygen and nutrients. While the symptoms and signs of (CAD) are noted in the advanced state of disease, most individuals with (CAD) show no evidence of disease for decades as the disease progress before the first onset of symptoms, often a “Sudden” heart attack, After decades of progression, some of these atheromatous plaques may rupture (along with the activation of the blood clotting system) limiting blood flow to the heart muscle.
People all around the world pass away every day for numerous reasons. Maybe it was a natural death, or an accident, or a really bad sickness. However more often than not, heart disease is the most common cause of death. Heart disease affects people of all ages, race, and gender. Heart disease can be defined as “any condition of the heart that impairs its function,” (dictionary.com). These conditions include heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Heart disease in general, is the most prevalent cause of death across the globe. Heart disease can be linked to many other health factors including nutrition and diet. An unhealthy diet can lead to numerous problems, but in most cases it will cause some sort of heart disease.
Alike all muscle in the body the heart requires its own constant supply of oxygen and nutrients. Out of three coronary arteries, large two and branching arteries supply oxygenated blood to the cardiac muscle. Any sudden block of these arteries or its branches causes starvation of heart from oxygen and this condition called “cardiac ischemia”. When myocardial ischemia exceeds a critical inception and overthrows cardiac cellular repair mechanisms deliberate to maintain normal operating function and homeostasis. Ischemia at this critical limit for prolonged period causes permanent cardiac cell injury or
There are three different types of an acute coronary syndrome. There is unstable angina, a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and there is a ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). A STEMI and NSTEMI are both deciphered as a myocardial infarction, or better known as a heart attack. The difference between the two is that a STEMI is a fully blocked coronary artery, and a NSTEMI is a partially blocked one. “A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is reduced or cut off” (Heart Attack, 2017). The acute coronary syndrome, NSTEMI, will be discussed in this paper including these topics: description of the condition, medical/surgical treatment,
Thorough analysis of Bill’s, clinical presentation, risk factors and family history, indicates that he is suffering a S-T elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). STEMI’s are one of many life-threatening diseases including unstable angina and sudden coronary death that are umbrellaed under the term acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (Kumar & Cannon, 2009; Roach et al., 2015). ACS’s are all characterised by incisive, reduction in coronary blood circulation to a particular region of the heart. More specifically a STEMI is the result of superimposed thrombus formation followed by atherosclerotic plaque rupture in a coronary artery (Bentzon, Otsuka, Virmani, & Falk, 2014). Atherosclerosis occurs due to cholesterol deposition over a long period of time and Bill’s history of hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor for this condition. Atherosclerotic plaque rupture or fissuration leads
A heart attack occurs when one of the heart's coronary arteries is blocked suddenly or has extremely slow blood flow
Coronary endothelial dysfunction is associated with various pathological impairments, such as the disruption of cardiovascular homeostasis, poor blood circulation, myocardial injury, the accumulation and adhesion of platelets and monocytes, the increase in vasoconstriction, increased expression of inflammatory factors, and impairment in vascular regeneration which increase the risk of atherosclerosis.
The pathophysiology of ACS occurs as sequelae of atherosclerotic plaque rupture, which leads to thrombus formation that results in reduction of coronary blood flow which further causes myocardial ischemia.5 American College of Cardiology divided ACS to three segments, which include; unstable angina, ST segment elevation-ACS (STE-ACS) and, non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTE-ACS). 4