Angina pectoris is the most common heart disease. The second name for this disease is "angina pectoris." Angina pectoris - what is it? This term in medicine refers to pain attacks that occur due to insufficient blood supply to the heart.
In this article, we will consider in detail issues related to this pathology.
Angina pectoris: what is it?
This disease is one of the varieties of coronary heart disease. Atherosclerosis of the vessels and the formation of blood clots in them are considered the cause of the pathology. This leads to ischemia or oxygen starvation of the heart. With any kind of stress (emotional or physical), the disease progresses. This is due to the fact that the heart muscle in this situation begins to contract more often. Therefore, to provide energy, she needs additional blood supply. But as a result of the fact that the lumen of the vessels is narrowed by blood clots and atherosclerotic plaques, ischemia only intensifies. Thus, oxygen starvation suddenly occurs , accompanied by a pain attack.
Symptoms
So, what are the signs of angina pectoris? What is this disease, we examined earlier.
Now we describe the main symptoms that occur with this pathology. Angina pectoris is characterized by a burning or constricting pain localized behind the sternum. She can give to the left shoulder blade or arm. Attacks of an illness, as a rule, begin during any kind of physical activity. It can be brisk walking, running or just a change of position. In some cases, spasm occurs with severe stress. The main signs of the disease are fear and shortness of breath. Often the disease is accompanied by arrhythmia.
Angina pectoris. Classification
Forms of the disease are determined by the clinical course of the disease. Depending on the condition in which the symptoms appear, they distinguish angina of exertion and rest. In the first case, pain occurs with any load. In this case, attacks that worry at a certain frequency last for several minutes. After taking the drug "Nitroglycerin" and stopping the load, the pain disappears. In the event that the seizures began to become more frequent or occur at rest, it can be assumed that the disease passed into another form, whose name is "rest angina." However, an accurate diagnosis can only be made by a doctor after an in-patient examination. With this disease, the heart muscle is in ischemic status all the time.
In this case, the symptoms of the disease, which are in no way connected with physical efforts, disturb spontaneously, especially at night and in the morning. Patients feel
pain in the heart, lack of air. Treatment of the disease is possible only by surgical means. Angina pectoris, in turn, is divided into the first arising, progressive and spontaneous. The first variety is characterized by the appearance of seizures for the first time in life. In this case, cramps appear both during exercise and at rest. Progressive angina is caused by the development of coronary atherosclerosis and the influence of various aggravating factors (tachycardia, physical overload, hypertension, etc.). Attacks become more frequent, prolonged, and the pain syndrome itself is brighter. The effect of taking medications is reduced. The next variety is spontaneous angina pectoris. What is it? With this disease, the occurrence of prolonged
attacks of heart pain (about 15 minutes) is noted at rest. In this case, drugs, as a rule, do not help.