Coronary Artery Disease, otherwise known as Ischaemic Heart Disease.
These are diseases of the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood. Sometimes known as CAD, coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease in industrialized nations and far and away the leading cause of heart attacks.
Coronary artery disease generally means that blood flow through the arteries has become impaired. The most common way such obstructions develop is through a condition called atherosclerosis, a largely preventable type of vascular disease.
The actively contracting heart muscle needs a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients to function. They're delivered by blood vessels known as coronary arteries.
Over the course of your lifetime — actually starting in early childhood — these arteries, whose inner lining is normally smooth, can slowly become clogged with clumps of fats, cholesterol and other material, called atherosclerotic plaques. You may also know this as hardening or narrowing of the arteries. The inner walls of arteries become narrow slowly because of a buildup of these plaques, or suddenly by a rupture of a plaque and the formation of a blood clot around the ruptured plaque.
As a result, the supply of blood — with its oxygen and nutrients — going to the heart muscle is choked off (myocardial ischemia). As less blood reaches the heart, it can't function normally, and you begin experiencing the physical consequences.
Chest pain (angina pectoris) occurs, for instance, when the oxygen demand of the heart muscle exceeds the oxygen supply because of that narrowing in the coronary arteries. When the imbalance of oxygen supply lasts for more then a few minutes, heart muscle can begin to die, causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction). This may occur without symptoms (silent heart attack), especially in people with diabetes.
In addition, the lack of blood, even briefly, can lead to serious disorders of the heart rhythm, known as arrhythmias or dysrhythmias. Coronary artery disease can even cause sudden death from an arrhythmia without any prior warning.
These consequences of coronary artery disease are also types of cardiovascular disease in their own right and, in turn, can cause even more types of cardiovascular disease — weaving a complex interplay of cause and effect. A heart attack, for instance, can lead to congestive heart failure, and both of these conditions are types of cardiovascular disease.
There's another confusing twist to coronary artery disease: It's sometimes used synonymously with coronary heart disease. But you can impress your cardiologist on the next visit — if not your colleagues around the water cooler — if you know they're not technically the same things.
Rather, coronary heart disease is a more encompassing term that refers to diseases of the coronary arteries and their resulting complications — angina, a heart attack and even scar tissue caused by the heart attack. All are technically coronary heart diseases.
Coronary artery disease generally means that blood flow through the arteries has become impaired. The most common way such obstructions develop is through a condition called atherosclerosis, a largely preventable type of vascular disease.
The actively contracting heart muscle needs a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients to function. They're delivered by blood vessels known as coronary arteries.
Over the course of your lifetime — actually starting in early childhood — these arteries, whose inner lining is normally smooth, can slowly become clogged with clumps of fats, cholesterol and other material, called atherosclerotic plaques. You may also know this as hardening or narrowing of the arteries. The inner walls of arteries become narrow slowly because of a buildup of these plaques, or suddenly by a rupture of a plaque and the formation of a blood clot around the ruptured plaque.
As a result, the supply of blood — with its oxygen and nutrients — going to the heart muscle is choked off (myocardial ischemia). As less blood reaches the heart, it can't function normally, and you begin experiencing the physical consequences.
Chest pain (angina pectoris) occurs, for instance, when the oxygen demand of the heart muscle exceeds the oxygen supply because of that narrowing in the coronary arteries. When the imbalance of oxygen supply lasts for more then a few minutes, heart muscle can begin to die, causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction). This may occur without symptoms (silent heart attack), especially in people with diabetes.
In addition, the lack of blood, even briefly, can lead to serious disorders of the heart rhythm, known as arrhythmias or dysrhythmias. Coronary artery disease can even cause sudden death from an arrhythmia without any prior warning.
These consequences of coronary artery disease are also types of cardiovascular disease in their own right and, in turn, can cause even more types of cardiovascular disease — weaving a complex interplay of cause and effect. A heart attack, for instance, can lead to congestive heart failure, and both of these conditions are types of cardiovascular disease.
There's another confusing twist to coronary artery disease: It's sometimes used synonymously with coronary heart disease. But you can impress your cardiologist on the next visit — if not your colleagues around the water cooler — if you know they're not technically the same things.
Rather, coronary heart disease is a more encompassing term that refers to diseases of the coronary arteries and their resulting complications — angina, a heart attack and even scar tissue caused by the heart attack. All are technically coronary heart diseases.
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