The heart is a very important organ in our
body, despite its being basically a glorified pump. It is responsible for the
circulation of blood around the body, which transfers oxygen into the body and
carbon dioxide back out.
The heart beats at a steady rate, which
increases with increased activity. However, there are many diseases or
disorders which can disrupt, or even stop the heart altogether.
This site contains the compilation of 8
common heart diseases of varying degrees of severity. All of them are harmful,
and most of them can lead to heart failure.
In the case of experiencing a good portion
of the mentioned diseases, it is advisable to consult with your doctor for
further diagnosis.
Heart attack refers to blockage of blood flow to the heart caused by atherosclerosis or thrombosis. Also known as myocardial infarction, where myo means muscle, cardial means heart, and infarction means death of tissue.
Signs of Heart Attack :
Discomfort or heaviness in the chest.
Discomfort spreading to the back, jaw, arms, limbs.
Bloated, fullness or have a choked feeling.
Extreme weakness, fatigue.
Abnormal heartbeat.
CAUSES :
A heart attack occurs when one or more of your coronary arteries become blocked. Over time, a coronary artery can narrow from the buildup of various substances, including cholesterol (atherosclerosis). This condition, known as coronary artery disease, causes most heart attacks.
During a heart attack, one of these plaques can rupture and spill cholesterol and other substances into the bloodstream. A blood clot forms at the site of the rupture. If large enough, the clot can completely block the flow of blood through the coronary artery.
Another cause of a heart attack is a spasm of a coronary artery that shuts down blood flow to part of the heart muscle. Use of tobacco and of illicit drugs, such as cocaine, can cause a life-threatening spasm. A heart attack can also occur due to a tear in the heart artery (spontaneous coronary artery dissection).
RISK FACTORS :
Age. Men age 45 or older and women age 55 or older are more likely to have a heart attack than are younger men and women.
Tobacco. Smoking and long-term exposure to secondhand smoke increase the risk of a heart attack.
High blood pressure. Over time, high blood pressure can damage arteries that feed your heart by accelerating atherosclerosis. High blood pressure that occurs with obesity, smoking, high cholesterol or diabetes increases your risk even more.
High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels. A high level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) is most likely to narrow arteries. A high level of triglycerides, a type of blood fat related to your diet, also ups your risk of heart attack. However, a high level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) lowers your risk of heart attack.
Diabetes. Insulin, a hormone secreted by your pancreas, allows your body to use glucose, a form of sugar. Having diabetes — not producing enough insulin or not responding to insulin properly — causes your body's blood sugar levels to rise. Diabetes, especially uncontrolled, increases your risk of a heart attack.
Family history of heart attack. If your siblings, parents or grandparents have had early heart attacks (by age 55 for male relatives and by age 65 for female relatives), you may be at increased risk.
Lack of physical activity. An inactive lifestyle contributes to high blood cholesterol levels and obesity. People who get regular aerobic exercise have better cardiovascular fitness, which decreases their overall risk of heart attack. Exercise is also beneficial in lowering high blood pressure.
Obesity. Obesity is associated with high blood cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure and diabetes. Losing just 10 percent of your body weight can lower this risk, however.
Stress. You may respond to stress in ways that can increase your risk of a heart attack.
Illegal drug use. Using stimulant drugs, such as cocaine or amphetamines, can trigger a spasm of your coronary arteries that can cause a heart attack.
A history of preeclampsia. This condition causes high blood pressure during pregnancy and increases the lifetime risk of heart disease.
A history of an autoimmune condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other autoimmune conditions can increase your risk of having a heart attack.
DIAGNOSIS :
ECG .The ECG (also known as EKG or electrocardiogram) can tellhow much damage has occurred to your heart muscle and where ithas occurred. In addition, your heart rateand rhythm can bemonitored.
Blood tests.Blood may be drawn to measure levels ofcardiac enzymesthat indicate heart muscle damage. These enzymes are normally found inside the cells of your heart and are needed for their function. When your heart muscle cells are injured, their contents -- including the enzymes -- are released into your bloodstream. By measuring the levels of these enzymes, the doctor can determine the size of the heart attack and approximately when the heart attack started. Troponin levels will also be measured. Troponins are proteins found inside of heart cells that are released when they are damaged by the lack of blood supply to the heart. Detecting troponin in the blood may indicate a heart attack.
ELECTROCARDIOGRAM (Heart Attack)
ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY OF HEART ATTACK
Echocardiography. Echocardiography is an imaging test that can be used during and after a heart attack to learn how the heart is pumping and what areas are not pumping normally. The "echo" can also tell if any structures of the heart (valves, septum, etc.) have been injured during the heart attack.
Cardiac catheterization.Cardiac catheterization, also called cardiac cath, may be used during the first hours of a heart attack ifmedications are not relieving the ischemia or symptoms. The cardiac cath can be used to directly visualize the blocked artery and help your doctor determine which procedure is needed to treat the blockage.
TREATMENT :
Drugs or surgery are normally used to treat heart attacks!
Drugs used during a heart attack may include:
Aspirin to prevent blood clotting that may worsen the heart attack
Other antiplatelets, such as Brilinta, Effient, or Plavix, to prevent blood clotting
Thrombolytic therapy ("clot busters") to dissolve any blood clots in the heart's arteries
Any combination of the above
ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS :
During or shortly after a heart attack, you may go to the cardiac cath lab for direct evaluation of the status of your heart, arteries, and the amount of heart damage. In some cases, procedures (such asangioplasty or stents) are used to open up your narrowed or blocked arteries.
If necessary, bypass surgery may be performed in the days following the heart attack to restore the heart muscle's supply of blood.
Treatments (medications, open heart surgery, and interventional procedures, like angioplasty) do not cure coronary artery disease. Having had a heart attack or treatment does not mean you will never have another heart attack; it can happen again. But, there are several steps you can take to prevent further attacks.
STATISTICS :
In 2008, over 616,000 people died of heart disease.
In 2008, heart disease caused almost 25% of deaths—almost one in every four—in the United States.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2008 were in men.
Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. In 2008, 405,309 people died from coronary heart disease.
Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first coronary attack. Another 470,000 who have already had one or more coronary attacks have another attack.
In 2010, coronary heart disease alone was projected to cost the United States $108.9 billion. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.
Peripheral artery disease(also called peripheral arterial
disease) is a common circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce
blood flow to your limbs.When you develop peripheral artery disease (PAD), your
extremities — usually your legs — don't receive enough blood flow to keep up
with demand. This causes symptoms, most notably leg pain when walking
(intermittent claudication).Intermittent claudication symptoms include muscle pain or
cramping in your legs or arms that's triggered by activity, such as walking,
but disappears after a few minutes of rest. The location of the pain depends on
the location of the clogged or narrowed artery. Calf pain is the most common
location.The severity of intermittent claudication varies widely, from mild
discomfort to debilitating pain. Severe intermittent claudication can make it
hard for you to walk or do other types of physical activity.
Peripheral artery
disease symptoms include:
·Painful cramping in your hip, thigh or calf muscles after
activity, such as walking or climbing stairs (intermittent claudication)
·Leg numbness or weakness
·Coldness in your lower leg or foot, especially when compared
with the other side
·Sores on your toes, feet or legs that won't heal ·Achange in the color of your legs
·Hair loss or slower hair growth on your feet and legs
·Slower growth of your toenails
·Shiny skin on your legs
·No pulse or a weak pulse in your legs or feet
·Erectile dysfunction in men
CAUSES
Peripheral artery disease is often
caused by atherosclerosis. In atherosclerosis, fatty deposits (plaques) build
up in your artery walls and reduce blood flow.
Although the heart is usually the focus
of discussion of atherosclerosis, this disease can and usually does affect
arteries throughout your body. When it occurs in the arteries supplying blood
to your limbs, it causes peripheral artery disease.
TESTS AND DIAGNOSIS
Some of the tests your
doctor may rely on to diagnose peripheral artery disease are:
·Physical exam.Your doctor may find signs of PAD during a physical
examination, such as a weak or absent pulse below a narrowed area of your
artery, whooshing sounds (bruits) over your arteries that can be heard with a
stethoscope, evidence of poor wound healing in the area where your blood flow
is restricted, and decreased blood pressure in your affected limb.
·Ankle-brachial index (ABI). This is a common test used to diagnose
PAD. It compares the blood pressure in your ankle with the blood pressure in
your arm. To get a blood pressure reading, your doctor uses a regular blood
pressure cuff and a special ultrasound device to evaluate blood pressure and
flow. You may walk on a treadmill and have readings taken before and
immediately after exercising to capture the severity of the narrowed arteries
during walking.
·Ultrasound. Special ultrasound imaging techniques, such as Doppler
ultrasound, can help your doctor evaluate blood flow through your blood vessels
and identify blocked or narrowed arteries.
ULTRASOUND
·Angiography. By injecting a dye (contrast material) into your blood
vessels, this test allows your doctor to view blood flow through your arteries
as it happens. Your doctor is able to trace the flow of the contrast material
using imaging techniques, such as X-ray imaging or procedures called magnetic
resonance angiography (MRA) or computerized tomography angiography (CTA).
Catheter angiography is a more invasive procedure that involves guiding a
catheter through an artery in your groin to the affected area and injecting the
dye that way. Although invasive, this type of angiography allows for
simultaneous diagnosis and treatment — finding the narrowed area of a blood
vessel and then widening it with an angioplasty procedure or administering
medication to improve blood flow.
·Blood tests.A sample of your blood can be used to measure your
cholesterol and triglycerides and to check for diabetes.
TREATMENTS
Medications
·Cholesterol-lowering medications.You may take a cholesterol-lowering drug
called statin to reduce your risk factor of heart attack and stroke. The goal
for people who have peripheral artery disease is to reduce low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol, to less than
100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), or 2.6 millimoles per liter (mmol/L). The
goal is even lower if you have additional major risk factors for heart attack
and stroke, especially diabetes or continued smoking.
·High blood pressure medications.If you also have high blood pressure,
your doctor may prescribe medications to lower it. The goal of this therapy is
to reduce your systolic blood pressure (the top number of the two numbers) to
140 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or lower and your diastolic blood pressure
(the bottom number) to 90 mm Hg or lower. If you have diabetes, your blood
pressure target is under 130/80 mm Hg.
·Medication to control blood sugar. If you also have diabetes, it becomes
even more important to control your blood sugar (glucose) levels. Talk with
your doctor about what your blood sugar goals are and what steps you need to
take to achieve these goals.
·Medications to prevent blood clots.Because peripheral artery disease is
related to reduced blood flow to your limbs, it's important to reduce your risk
of blood clots. A blood clot can completely block an already narrowed blood
vessel and cause tissue death. Your doctor may prescribe daily aspirin therapy
or another medication that helps prevent blood clots, such as clopidogrel
(Plavix).
·Symptom-relief medications. The drug cilostazol (Pletal) increases
blood flow to the limbs both by preventing blood clots and by widening the
blood vessels. It specifically helps treat symptoms of claudication, such as
leg pain, for people who have peripheral artery disease. Common side effects of
this medication include headache and diarrhea. An alternative to cilostazol is
pentoxifylline (Trental); however, it's generally less effective. But, side
effects are rare with this medication
In some cases, angioplasty or surgery may
be necessary to treat peripheral artery disease that's causing intermittent
claudication:
·Angioplasty. In this procedure, a small hollow tube (catheter) is
threaded through a blood vessel to the affected artery. There, a small balloon
on the tip of the catheter is inflated to reopen the artery and flatten the
blockage into the artery wall, while at the same time stretching the artery
open to increase blood flow.Your doctor may also insert a mesh framework called a stent in the artery to help keep it open. This is the same procedure doctors use to open heart arteries.
·
Bypass
surgery. Your
doctor may create a graft bypass using a vessel from another part of your
body or a blood vessel made of synthetic fabric. This technique allows
blood to flow around — or bypass — the blocked or narrowed artery.
Thrombolytic
therapy. If
you have a blood clot blocking an artery, your doctor may inject a
clot-dissolving drug into your artery at the point of the clot to break it
up.
·Supervised exercise
program. In addition to
medications or surgery, your doctor may prescribe a supervised exercise
training program to increase the distance you can walk pain-free. Regular
exercise improves symptoms of PAD by a number of methods, including helping
your body use oxygen more efficiently.
EXTRA INFORMATION : http://www.cdc.gov/DHDSP/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_PAD.htm
Congenital heart disease is when you areborn with malformations of the heart’s structures. Congenital heart disease is
a broad term and examples are holes in the heart, abnormal valves, and abnormal
heart chambers.
CLUBBED FINGERNAILS
General
signs of congenital heart disease can include:
·Excessive sweating
·Extreme tiredness and fatigue
Poor feeding
·Rapid heartbeat
·Rapid breathing
·Shortness of breath
·Chest pain
·A blue tinge to the skin
(cyanosis)
·Clubbed fingernails
CYANOSIS
Causes
and risk factors
If your child has a congenital heart
defect, you may think you did something wrong during your pregnancy to cause
the problem. However, doctors often don’t know why congenital heart defects
occur. Heredity may play a role in some heart
defects. For example, a parent who has a congenital heart defect may be more
likely than other people to have a child with the defect. Rarely, more than one
child in a family is born with a heart defect.Children who has genetic disorders, such as
Down syndrome, often have congenital heart defects. In fact, half of all babies
who have Down syndrome have congenital heart defects. Besides, smoking during
pregnancy also has been linked to several congenital heart defects. Other than
that, this may be the result of the genes you inherited from your parents or
adverse exposure to certain elements while still in the womb, such as some
medicines or too much alcohol.
There are some factors that are associated
with an increased chance of having congenital heart disease. These risk factors
include:
·Genetic or chromosomal
abnormalities in the child, such a Down syndrome ·Taking certain medications or
alcohol or drug abuseduring pregnancy ·Maternal viral infection, such
as rubella ( German measles ) in the first trimester or pregnancy ·The risk of having a child with
congenital heart disease may double if a parent or a sibling has a congenital
heart defect.
·Diuretics – lower the amount of
extra fluid in the body
·Digoxin – increases the
strength of the heartbeats
·Vasodilators – widen blood
vessels so blood can flow more easily
·Antiarrhythmics – treat and
prevent irregular heartbeats
To treat a certain defect
·Prostaglandins and
prostaglandin inhibitors – help keep open or close a fetal blood vessel, called
the ductus arteriosus, that normally closes at birth
To prevent problems
·Antibiotics – before certain
dental and surgical procedures help prevent endocarditis in some people
·Blood thinners, such as aspirin
or anticoagulants - lower the risk of blood clots in the heart or in blood
vessels
Extra
Information – Statistic
The Baltimore-Washington
Infant Study is a regional epidemiologic study of congenital heart disease.
Among infants born in the study area in 1981 and 1982, 664 had a diagnosis of
congenital heart disease confirmed in the first year of life by
echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, cardiac surgery, or autopsy. The
prevalence rate was 3.7/1,000 livebirths for all cases and 2.4/1,000 livebirths
for cases confirmed by invasive methods only. Diagnosis-specific prevalence
rates of congenital heart disease are compared with those of eight previous
case series. Changing diagnostic categorizations in the time span covered and
methodological differences resulted in great variation of the data. However,
the data of the New England infant Cardiac Program which used the same case discovery
methods showed similar occurrences of major morphologic abnormalities,
suggesting that these are stable basic estimates in the eastern United States.
For all case series, the rate of confirmed congenital heart disease was
approximately 4/1,000 livebirths over the 40-year time span.
