After the brain, the heart is the most significant organ in the human body. The heart is responsible for the vital functions of all systems and organs, therefore, any inadequate work of them creates an additional burden on this vital organ. Coronary heart disease is a chronic disease caused by insufficient oxygen supply through the coronary arteries to the heart muscle. The history of IHD consists in narrowing the patency of the coronary arteries due to atherosclerosis. It can have a chronic and acute course, manifested in such heart diseases as cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and sudden death.
During physical or mental stress, as well as in moments of high blood pressure, when the heart is under increased stress, requiring the consumption of more oxygen, myocardial ischemia occurs. At such moments, the patient experiences a pressing, squeezing pain behind the sternum, giving a little to the left. An attack of angina pectoris usually goes away immediately after ingestion of nitroglycerin. If such a history of coronary heart disease with an acute attack of angina pectoris is delayed for more than half an hour, there is a serious threat to life.
Depending on the degree of oxygen starvation of the heart, its causes and duration, several forms of cardiac ischemia are distinguished:
- Asymptomatic ischemia passes unnoticed by the patient and does not cause complaints from him.
- During physical exertion or experiencing stress, with manifestations of frequent shortness of breath and pain behind the sternum, a chronic history of coronary heart disease develops - angina pectoris.
- Unstable angina refers to any attack of angina pectoris that surpasses previous attacks in strength, accompanied by new symptoms. Such attacks are evidence of complications of the course of the disease and are the first precursors of myocardial infarction.
- A characteristic sign of the arrhythmic form of ischemia of the heart is a violation of its rhythm, manifested in atrial fibrillation.
- Myocardial infarction is a partial death of the heart muscle. Most often, the history of coronary artery disease, leading to myocardial infarction, is a consequence of a plaque breaking off from the inner wall of the coronary artery or the appearance of a blood clot that blocks arterial patency.
- Sudden death of the heart, expressed in its sudden stop, is the result of a significantly lower blood flow to his muscle due to complete blockage of the large artery.
All types of ischemia can be combined and affect the further course of the disease. For example, the history of coronary heart disease is angina pectoris, often accompanied by arrhythmia, and then turning into myocardial infarction and so on, right up to sudden death. The death of a section of the heart muscle can occur at any stage of the disease, which are four types:
- The asymptomatic stage occurs during the deposition of cholesterol on the walls of the arteries.
- The stage of the appearance of the first signs is expressed in high blood pressure, high sugar and cholesterol in the blood. In this period of the course of the disease, cholesterol plaques can block up to 50% of arterial patency.
- A history of coronary heart disease, characterized by an increase in symptoms, manifests itself in frequent shortness of breath, interruptions in heart activity and constricting pain behind the sternum. At this point, an ultrasound of the heart shows an expansion of the heart cavities and a thinning of the heart muscle.
- The last stage is expressed in prolonged heart failure, increased blood pressure, the appearance of edema, atrial fibrillation and a sharp deterioration in heart function. Pain behind the sternum at this stage appears at the slightest exertion.
Myocardial infarction does not always lead to death, there are cases when patients carried it on their feet. But it should be remembered that a heart attack inevitably leads to an acceleration of the development of ischemic disease.