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Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, can be silent and cause no symptoms, but can lead to sudden death. It is caused by fatty deposits in the coronary arteries and can be treated with lifestyle changes and medication. Severe cases may require noninvasive or surgical procedures. Risk factors include family history, high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, and stress.
Ischemic heart disease is the medical term for a condition that many of us know informally as coronary artery disease. This condition, although treatable, can be “silent” and cause no noticeable symptoms in some people who have it. In other cases, this condition creates unpleasant symptoms, which is actually a good thing since preventative treatment for the condition can begin. Even with available treatment, “silent” cases may go unnoticed and can result in sudden death from a massive heart attack or fatal arrhythmias.
Basically, ischemic heart disease can be defined as fatty deposits or plaque that occur in the walls of the coronary arteries. As these deposits reduce blood flow to the heart, several things can happen. First, the heart has to pump harder to get the oxygen it needs. This can cause enlargement of the heart muscle, which is very dangerous, especially if people are unaware of the problem. Enlarged heart and reduced oxygen supply can create sudden arrhythmias, and total occlusion of a coronary artery could lead to the incidence of heart attack. Ischemic heart disease is one of the most likely causes of heart attack and is responsible for the deaths of approximately half a million people each year in the United States alone.
There are a number of risk factors for developing this condition. These include family history, high cholesterol levels, being overweight, smoking, high blood pressure, and following high-fat diets (even if they don’t result in weight gain). Stress is another cause that can create the condition, usually in combination with other symptoms. In the early years of the condition, most people aren’t aware they have it, unless they start developing chest pains during exercise.
Once ischemic heart disease is diagnosed, begin a treatment plan with medications and lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes include a low-fat diet, regular moderate exercise, losing weight, and quitting smoking. This will only be part of the battle since it doesn’t necessarily reverse fatty deposits in the coronary arteries.
The goal then is to prevent ischemic heart disease from getting worse, and this is done with a variety of medications. These include giving nitrates for chest pain, beta-blockers to slow the heart rate at rest, calcium channel drugs that can prevent arrhythmias, and blood thinners, or especially platelet-thinning drugs that help prevent blood clotting in narrower than normal arteries. Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, which help lower blood cholesterol, can also be used to reduce increased plaque buildup in the coronary arteries. Because of the risk of sudden life-threatening arrhythmias, the condition can be further treated with the implantation of a defibrillator, which helps control abnormally fast heart rhythms.
If doctors feel that ischemic heart disease is severe enough, they may opt for several noninvasive or surgical procedures to address the condition. People may have treatments such as balloon angioplasty, which can help widen the coronary arteries if they don’t get an adequate blood supply to the heart. Alternatively, coronary artery bypass surgery can help improve the condition of the heart. If the enlarged heart is severe and the risk of fatal myocardial infarction or life-threatening arrhythmias remains uncontrolled with an implanted defibrillator, heart transplantation may be necessary.
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