Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary heart
disease a term that describes what happens when your
heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of
fatty substances (atheromatous plaques) along the walls
of coronary arteries that supply the myocardium. If
your coronary arteries become narrow due to this build-up, your
heart will start receiving a restricted supply of blood. the
blood supply to your heart will be restricted. This can cause angina
(chest pains) or if they become completely blocked - a myocardial
infarction, commonly called 'a heart attack'.
In the UK, 1 in 4 men and 1
in 6 women are dying through this disease, with over 300,000 people
having a heart attack each year and over 100,000 dying in
the UK, and approximately half a million in the united
States. Often, simple lifestyle changes, can make
considerable improvements in the outcome of Coronary Heart
Disease.
Cardiomyopathy
This is a disease of the
heart muscle itself: the myocardium. People with
cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia and/or sudden cardiac
death. The normal functioning of the heart muscle may be affected by
a variety of causes including genetic, alcohol and drug abuse,
nutrition, inadequate oxygen delivery, diabetes,
hyperthyroidism, excess accumulation of iron in other organs -
especially, the liver, and diabetes.
Cardiovascular
Disease
Vascular disease is mainly caused by hardening of
the arteries(atherosclerosis) due to a
thickening of the artery lining from fatty deposits or plaques
(atheroma). Therefore Cardio-Vascular disease covers a range of
conditions which mainly affects the heart. Normally, this is through
restricted blood supply, as a result of narrowing arteries. Studies
have revealed that in women, cardiovasular disease is more likely to
be related to disease of the blood vessels, whilst in men - it tends
to be disease of the heart muscles themselves. Known or associated
causes of cardiovascular disease include diabetes mellitus,
hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia and
hypercholesterolemia.
Cardiovascular Disease is commonly used as a collective
term covering all heat disease as well as disease of the blood
vessels.
The following will increase your
risk:
- Smoking
- High blood pressure
- High blood cholesterol
- Physical inactivity
- Being overweight or obese
- Diabetes
- A family history of heart disease
- Ageing
Valvular Heart
Disease
There are 4 valves in the heart.
As the term suggests, any disease of 1 or more of these valves will
be termed as a Valvular Heart disorder or disease.
There are several types of valve
disease:
Valvular stenosis
This occurs when a valve opening is smaller than normal
due to stiff or fused leaflets. The narrowed opening may make the
heart work very hard to pump blood through it. This can lead to
heart failure and other symptoms. All
four valves can be stenotic (hardened, restricting blood flow); the
conditions are called tricuspid stenosis, pulmonic stenosis, mitral
stenosis or aortic stenosis.
Valvular insufficiency.
Also called "leaky valve", occurs when a valve does not close
tightly. When valves fail to seal completely, a quantity of blood
will leak backwards making the heart work harder trying to
compensate for the reduced push-through quantity of blood.
Ultimately, it may not be able to compensate sufficiently and
insufficient blood is circulated in the body.Depending on which
valve is affected, the condition is called tricuspid regurgitation,
pulmonary regurgitation, mitral regurgitation or aortic
regurgitation
