Surgeons throughout the world have devised a number of approaches to diseases of the coronary arteries. Fortunately, surgery is not necessary for most people who have these diseases.Persons who have recently sustained a heart attack or who have developed angina pectoris should be carefully evaluated for the presence of any factors that could have predisposed them to the event. One or more causative factors are frequently found that can be altered to reduce the patient’s chances of developing additional trouble. The surgical attack to this problem is usually aimed at removing obstructions or bypassing obstructions in the coronary arteries. The goal is to improve the blood supply to the heart. The angina patient has a narrowing in his coronary arteries at one or more places, with inadequate blood flow beyond the obstruction. The heart attack patient has a blood vessel blockage that produced heart damage, and he hopes to avoid additional blood vessel occlusion and a subsequent heart attack.When considering medical versus surgical therapy for coronary artery disease, two important points must be kept in mind. First, a localized artery narrowing of 95 percent may still allow an almost normal quantity of blood to pass by through the compensatory mechanism of increased flow. This phenomenon occurs in nature when a wide, lazy river narrows down to a gorge and the water rushes through the narrows. Second, during the process of removing or bypassing obstructions in the coronary arteries by surgery, only parts of the total arterial system are repaired. It is impossible to widen all the narrowed areas.I have frequently seen men or women recently afflicted with angina pectoris who have obtained complete relief from pain during certain activities by giving up cigarette smoking. These activities were previously incapacitating, since they predictably caused severe chest pressure. The exact reason for this is not known, but nicotine probably causes blood vessels throughout the body to constrict, or narrow down. The heart then must work harder to pump blood through these tinier channels at a higher pressure. Removing the nicotine results in a relaxation and widening of the blood vessels and decreased heart work.A large number of patients are also found to have high blood pressure associated with their angina or heart attack. Hypertension probably preceded the onset of heart disease and may have accelerated the development of coronary artery narrowing. Effective drugs are available that will lower most blood pressures, and it is very common to find that a person has less angina after his pressure returns to near normal. Similarly, a person who has hypertension and develops a myocardial infarct is less likely to have a subsequent infarct if elevated blood pressure is brought under control.Obesity is a common finding among heart attack victims. The heart’s work is increased with every pound of extra weight that a person carries above his bare minimum weight. A person who is 30 pounds overweight may decrease the amount of work that his heart performs by 20 percent if he reduces his weight to ideal levels. This reduction of heart work may very well compensate for the amount of heart muscle that has been lost by a heart attack. An obese heart attack patient may therefore end up no worse off after a heart attack if he can shrink his size. The angina patient has chest pain because, at a certain level of body activity, his coronary arteries cannot supply enough blood to the heart muscle. The heart muscle will need less blood to function if he looses weight because the heart will not have to pump as much blood to his thinner body during the same amount of exercise.*16/309/5*

Random Posts

• A CURE FOR ARTHRITIS: THEY SAY, “THERE IS NO CURE”
• DO WE KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF HRT TO BE SURE IT’S SAFE AND WILL LIVE UP TO THE CLAIMS MADE FOR IT?
• THE HEALTH OF THE ELECTRICAL FIELD: CAN I FEEL MY OWN ELECTRICAL FIELD?
• HERBS: ALFALFA
• EXAMINE YOUR LIFE AND REACH BOTH YOUR WEIGHT-LOSS AND LIFELONG GOALS: DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE OTHERS?
• YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH/EYE DISORDERS: SWELLING OF EYELIDS AND TRAUMA TO THE EYE (BLACK EYE)
• IDENTIFYING YOUR OVERALL COLOUR SCHEME
• SKIN DURING PREGNANCY: ITCHY SKIN
• EPILEPSY: THE FACTS-THE FIRST SEIZURE AND THE DIAGNOSIS OF EPILEPSY: OTHER CAUSES OF IMPAIRED OXYGEN SUPPLY TO THE BRAIN-NARCOLEPSY
• USE OF ACTH AND CORTISONE IN THE TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION