Stay up to date on all things heart attack. Sign up and we’ll send you the latest news, resources, scientific breakthroughs, events, tips, and much more.
EKGs can be done pretty much instantaneously and the doctor can look at the results fairly quickly after it's done. Some other tests (such as a stress test) may take a little while to come back and usually can be discussed at a follow-up visit with your doctor, as well as an echocardiogram. Your doctor can also call you with the results of these tests and let you know if they would like you to get any further testing. If there is a significant defect in your stress test or in your echocardiogram, it may be warranted to get what's called a cardiac catheterization. Now, in this procedure, what's done is a catheter is inserted either through an artery in your wrist or in your groin up to your heart. After that, dye is injected into the heart arteries to see if a blockage is present. This is called a coronary angiogram. If there's a blockage present, what's done is called the PCI or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. A stent can be placed if there's a blockage that is seen (or multiple stents can be placed if a blockage is seen) and this can temporarily relieve the problem of coronary artery disease.
EKGs can be done pretty much instantaneously and the doctor can look at the results fairly quickly after it's done. Some other tests (such as a stress test) may take a little while to come back and usually can be discussed at a follow-up visit with your doctor, as well as an echocardiogram. Your doctor can also call you with the results of these tests and let you know if they would like you to get any further testing. If there is a significant defect in your stress test or in your echocardiogram, it may be warranted to get what's called a cardiac catheterization. Now, in this procedure, what's done is a catheter is inserted either through an artery in your wrist or in your groin up to your heart. After that, dye is injected into the heart arteries to see if a blockage is present. This is called a coronary angiogram. If there's a blockage present, what's done is called the PCI or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. A stent can be placed if there's a blockage that is seen (or multiple stents can be placed if a blockage is seen) and this can temporarily relieve the problem of coronary artery disease.
The most common symptom in CAD is chest pain. This chest pain can occur on exertion (which is called stable angina) or it can occur at rest or with various changes in the amount of chest pain, which is called unstable angina. Over time, this chest pain can also occur more frequently and eventually (at worst) can lead to a heart attack. It's important to understand the symptoms of this disease, as heart attacks do need to be prevented. Some people also have what's called an anginal equivalent. So chest pain (related to CAD) is called angina. Some people experience angina in different ways, and these are typically seen in women and in diabetics. For example, some people may have jaw pain and that will be their anginal equivalent. So people know that when they have jaw pain, that may be a sign of their coronary artery disease, they would know to go see their doctor or go to the emergency room.
There are many causes of coronary artery disease and these are all risk factors for coronary artery disease. They include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking and diabetes, as well as depression, a family history of heart disease, and other rarer auto-immune conditions (also known as rheumatologic conditions.)
Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death globally and therefore must be taken very seriously. It's important to know the risk factors in order to decrease your chance for coronary artery disease and a possible eventual heart attack. These risk factors include smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history, and depression and autoimmune diseases as well. It's important to know which risk factors you have and to talk with your doctor about medications as well as lifestyle modifications to control these risk factors. Coronary artery disease is caused by these risk factors and is caused by decreased blood flow to your heart over time. This process is known as atherosclerosis where there's plaque buildup in the arteries that decrease the blood flow to your heart. By modifying these risk factors, you can then have better control of this disease. There are many different tests that are done that your doctors will do, such as an EKG, echocardiogram, and stress test that can all aid in the diagnosis of this disease. There are many treatments thereafter if these tests come back positive, such as a coronary angiogram (better known as a cardiac catheterization) which can directly look at the vessels in your heart and possible treatment, which would be stenting if necessary, as well as medical treatment, which would include blood thinning medications (such as aspirin or an antiplatelet agent) as well as other medications that help dilate the arteries (such as amlodipine or hydralazine and nitrates.) Lastly, if medication fails, a CABG may be warranted if you have three vessel disease or left main disease. In this surgery, a cardiothoracic surgeon will implant a vein (usually from your leg) and bypass the blockage in your heart. After this surgery, you would need to take blood thinning medications as well. It is a cure for the disease, however, the disease may recur over time if your risk factors are not well controlled. Therefore, it's important over time to to control your risk factors and follow-up with your doctor regularly to make sure that these are all well controlled.
Family history is a risk factor for heart disease, as there have been a number of genes that have been implicated in heart disease. Other associated conditions with CAD are rheumatologic conditions or autoimmune conditions, which include, for example, Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis, which had been shown to have a higher rate of coronary artery disease. Depression as well - while the pathophysiology isn't really well known - has been associated with a higher risk of CAD as well. In addition, people with a family history of heart disease are also at an increased risk of having heart disease themselves, as there have been a number of genes implicated in ischemic heart disease.
It's important to see a doctor regularly in order to make sure that you modify your risk factors and are able to control your risk factors. Such as, for example: high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, as well as maintaining a good diet and exercise program. After a little while, your doctor may do testing for CAD. Some routine testing would include an EKG (which would look for both heart arhythmias as well as signs of Ischemia or decreased profusion to your heart.) If this is seen, further follow-up tests can be done. One of these is an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of your heart. This can look at - specifically in coronary artery disease - can look at the wall motion of your heart and make sure that they are all functioning at the level that they should. A wall motion abnormality can be a sign of decreased blood flow to that part of the heart. In addition, a doctor may prescribe a stress test. Now there are several different kinds of stress tests that can be used. If you're able to walk on a treadmill and your baseline EKG is normal, then the most typical test is an EKG treadmill stress test, in which you walk on a treadmill and the doctor will tell over time as you exercise whether your EKG changes. If it does, it might be a sign that you have coronary artery disease. Another method of stress testing is to do a Stress Echo, which would be with exercise to look at the echocardiogram and see if there are changes in that. Also, a doctor can do another type of stress test in which they inject your body with a tracer, which will cause stress to your heart, and they can look at that tracer on what's called a nuclear scan to see if there are areas of decreased blood flow to your heart, as well. Lately, there have been developments in newer kinds of imaging such as CT or MRI that can look directly at the arteries of your heart.
Associated conditions with coronary artery disease are smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, alcohol, high cholesterol, family history, and depression, as well as some other auto immune disorders (which is a little bit rarer) such as Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis, for example.
Send this to a friend