Ischemic Heart Diseases

Ischemic heart diseases,the term ischaemia or ischemia is a descriptive term that means there's a restriction of blood flow to a particular part of the body.

When the blood flow restricts to the heart, it's cardiac ischaemia. This reduces the amount of blood flow to the heart and therefore reduces the amount of oxygen to the heart. This causes damage to the heart tissue.

Sometimes people use the term coronary heart or artery disease to describe the condition the interrupted or slow blood flow causes. If it is severe, it causes a heart attack beacause of an inadequate blood flow due to a partial or totally blocked artery. When this narrowing or blockage occurs in the coronary arteries, it's known as ischemic heart disease. When doctors refer to ischemic heart, it is generally angina pectoris and heart attacks that they are addressing.

Signs and symptoms

Certain ischemic strokes are often foreshadowed by a series of small incidents known as transient ischemic attacks called TIAs. These attacks, which last from a few seconds to a few minutes, are most often related to the disease atherosclerosis, which develops when fatty deposits form inside arteries.

Angina attacks are symptoms of underlying ischemic heart diseases. For example, a person may have plaque building up inside one of the coronary arteries. As long as the person is resting, their heart rate is normal. However, during physical activity such as climbing stairs, their heart has to beat faster to supply extra blood and oxygen to the muscles. Then the heart requires more oxygen because it is working harder but it cannot get the oxygen it needs because of the plaque build up. Suddenly, the person feels an unpleasant feeling in the chest, which is a sign of angina.

Causes

Especially when the coronary arteries are closed by 50 percent or more, the stage is set for angina. Fatty deposits called plaque forming on the artery walls due to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries is a major cause of narrowing, accounting for about 90 percent of cases. Myocardial infarctions, more commonly known as heart attacks, are the death or damage of an area of the heart muscle, which results from a reduction of blood being supplied to that area.

When any part of the body does not receive enough oxygen, the condition is called ischemic. Ischemic heart diseases resulting from poor coronary circulation cause discomfort in the chest, which is called angina pectoris. If a coronary artery is severely blocked, the area of the heart that gets its blood supply from that artery may die from lack of oxygen. This is when a heart attack occurs.

Diagnosis

A doctor will suspect ischemic heart diseases from the patient's description of chest discomfort that is brought on with physical exertion and often prescribe several different types of drugs that include ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, diuretics, digitalis, Beta-blockers and vasodilators that make the vessels dilate. Attacking the cause of the blockage or surgical intervention to remove the blockage of the blood flow is also in order. Depending on the situation and amount of damage an implantation of a device such as a pacemaker, might be a recommendation.

An exercise stress test may reveal coronary artery disease. In this test, an electrocardiogram or ECG is taken after the patient performs a specific kind of exercise such as running or walking on a treadmill. As the heart rate is raised, the ECG may show the pattern for ischemia if there is any problem in the coronary arteries.

In a person who has had a heart attack, the infarction produces a different pattern on the ECG because dead tissue will not conduct electrical impulses. In about 75 to 80 percent of people who have suffered a heart attack, tracings show how the impulses have to go around the area of infarction. A doctor will confirm the diagnosis of ischemic heart diseases by testing the blood for certain substances when the cells are damaged.

You can successfully survive ischaemic heart disease but it might require that you change many of your personal habits. If you smoke, simply quit. Lose weight if you're overweight. Eat a low salt diet since it is more difficult to eliminate fluid. Don't drink excessively. Watch out for fluid build up. Make certain that you weigh daily and if your weight increases by more than 3 pounds, you might be retaining fluid.

Risk Factors

Risk factors for TIAs include hypertension, some types of ischemic heart diseases, diabetes, smoking, and advanced age. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other diseases may also prevent normal blood flow. Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries is more commonly seen in people who smoke, who have high levels of cholesterol, or high blood pressure. Lack of exercise may also be a risk factor of ischemic heart diseases.

Go to Types of Heart Disease from Ischemic Heart Diseases