Diseases of the cardiovascular system occupy first place in the world among other pathologies of the human body, leading to death. About 17 million people die from heart and vascular diseases each year, which is 30% of the total number of deaths. Sometimes cardiovascular pathologies are congenital, but most of them arise due to stressful situations or an unhealthy lifestyle. A precursor to the occurrence of diseases are spasmodic conditions of the circulatory system. What is coronary spasm, symptoms and diagnostic techniques? The reader will find the answers to all these questions in the article.
The cardiovascular system
The cardiovascular system is a set of organs that provide blood flow in the human body. Blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to all tissues, while simultaneously removing waste products from them. The human cardiovascular system is the heart and
blood vessels. The heart is an organ that anatomically is a hollow muscle and causes blood to constantly circulate through blood vessels - hollow tubes of different sections. It consists of four chambers - the right atrium, the right ventricle, the
left atrium, the left ventricle, separated by partitions. The heart wall includes three muscle layers: internal - endocardium; the middle layer is the myocardium; the outer connecting layer is the epicardium.
The vessels of the circulatory system include arteries, arterioles, precapillaries, capillaries, postcapillaries, veins. The farther from the heart, the smaller the vessels. In the arteries, blood moves from the heart to the tissues of the body, along the veins in the opposite direction.
Vessels that carry oxygenated blood to the myocardium are coronary arteries. Correspondingly, coronary circulation is a flow of blood through the blood vessels of the myocardium. Simultaneously with the blood, the lymphatic system provides additional nutrition to the tissues. It should be noted that the work of the circulatory system is very clear, strictly coordinated.
Vascular spasm: what is it
The medical guide contains a great many cardiovascular diseases. And often the formation of various pathological conditions, such as the formation of cholesterol plaques or the occurrence of vascular spasms, leads to more serious disorders in the body, that is, to the development of serious diseases - atherosclerosis, angina pectoris, coronary heart disease (CHD).
Angiospasm is a short-term reduction in the walls of blood vessels and an increase in their tone, due to narrowing of the lumen in the muscle cavity.
In this case, blood is collected in some areas, while others do not receive sufficient nutrition. There is a violation of oxygen enrichment of body tissues. Vascular spasm usually does not last long up to 20 minutes. However, there are cases when violations in the vascular system take a protracted nature. Cramps cause severe pathology - vascular crisis - a change in the filling of blood vessels with blood on the background of impaired central blood circulation. Both large and small blood vessels are subject to spasms.
Smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, periodic stress, excessive alcohol consumption, increased platelet activity - a combination of these factors causes the occurrence of spasmodic syndrome, this is its main reason. Coronary spasms can occur in various areas of the human body, so they are usually classified.
Types of Cramping
Depending on where the spasmodic process is localized, they distinguish:
- peripheral cramps;
- spasms of the main arteries.
Peripheral spasms - vasospasms - pathological conditions that occur locally, for example, in the vessels of the upper or lower extremities due to physical fatigue, a sharp change in climate, changes in the rhythm of life. The occurrence of peripheral spasms is caused by a violation of the tone of the capillaries of the skin. At first, the affected area turns pale, then acquires a blue tint, numbness of the extremities, and itching occur. Sometimes a person experiences excessive sweating. Symptoms may increase with hypothermia. Sometimes, when rubbing the affected area, the patient may experience pain.
Spasms of the main arteries affect large blood vessels that feed the human brain, heart muscle, and the body as a whole. In accordance with this distinguish:
- coronary spasm;
- cerebral angiospasm.
A spasm of the vessels of the heart - a coronary spasm - is a short, but very sharp, sudden reduction in the lumen of the inner wall of the coronary arteries. Cerebral angiospasm is a spasm of the main blood vessels that feed the human brain.
What causes spasm of coronary vessels of the heart
Symptoms of coronary spasm begin with chest pain radiating to the shoulder blade or arm. The nature of the attacks is different. Pain can occur at night, at rest or during the day, against the background of increased physical activity. Pain in the region of the heart is explained by the fact that during the spasmodic process, damage occurs to the coronary vessels that feed the heart muscle. Unfortunately, the onset of pain attacks is a harbinger of the development of angina pectoris - heart disease. Among the causes of the development of the disease:
- Atherosclerosis is the formation of cholesterol deposits on the walls of blood vessels, leading to a narrowing of the diameter of the cross section of the blood tunnels through which blood circulates. With atherosclerosis, the elasticity of the vessels decreases, they become fragile. A spasmodic process occurs if the lumen of the coronary arteries is narrowed by half. The more vessels affected by the pathology, the stronger the attack.
- Infectious diseases.
- Gastrointestinal diseases.
- Allergy.
The causes of angina pectoris can conditionally be combined into two groups:
- reasons that can be corrected;
- fatal reasons.
In the human powers to get rid of smoking, taking specific medications; bring your physical condition back to normal; increase vitality; to control blood pressure; do not succumb to the effects of psychoemotional stress. Unfortunately, a person is not able to influence his own heredity and age.
Forms of angina pectoris
Angina pectoris can manifest itself in different ways, in accordance with this disease is classified into several forms:
- angina pectoris;
- stable angina pectoris;
- angina pectoris.
Angina pectoris is formed against a background of physical or emotional stress. These factors lead to the fact that the heart muscle requires more activity in the metabolic processes. This form of angina is characterized by pain in the sternum.
Stable angina pectoris is a form in which the spasmodic process can last more than a month. It is divided into four subspecies depending on the degree of physical activity and stress, against which a seizure occurs.
Angina pectoris occurs at night, when the human body is in a state of rest. The attacks of this form of the disease are intense, quite long. The pain can slowly build up, and then disappear quickly enough. In this case, a person often experiences nausea, dizziness. The states of heart palpitations and lack of air are also noted. Compared to other forms of the disease, resting angina pectoris is less likely to lead to serious consequences or death.
Cerebral angiospasm
Cerebral angiospasm is a spasmodic process that affects the vessels that feed the brain. The most likely causes of cerebral spasm are frequent overwork of the body, lack of sleep, osteochondrosis. The disease mainly occurs in middle-aged people - over thirty years of age and manifests itself with moderate or severe headache in the neck, forehead, and temples. Together with pain, jumps in blood pressure can occur. Symptoms that characterize spasm of the coronary vessels of the brain are very pronounced. These include:
- impaired speech;
- loss of orientation;
- dizziness, nausea;
- memory losses.
The above symptoms are the result of insufficient blood supply to the brain, which occurs against the background, for example, osteochondrosis of the cervical spine. For diagnostic purposes and to prevent the development of serious pathologies associated with spasmodic manifestations in the vessels of the neck or head, one should resort to magnetic resonance imaging of the head, as well as ultrasound examination of the neck.
Diagnosis, treatment, prevention
Diseases of the cardiovascular system are quite insidious and often lead to serious consequences or death of the patient. Therefore, it is very important to recognize the signs of the disease in the early stages and begin treatment as soon as possible. The task of the medical worker is not to miss out on any trifles; carefully listen to the patient’s complaint; establish the nature of the pain, the place of its localization, duration, circumstances in which it arose.
Without fail laboratory diagnostics should be carried out - a blood test for cholesterol, lipoproteins. Other diagnostic methods include:
- An electrocardiogram (ECG) performed at the peak of an attack.
- Monitoring daily ECG.
- Echocardiogram.
- Bicycle ergometry is a test that allows you to determine the maximum load that a patient can withstand.
- Diagnostic coronarography - assessment of the degree of damage to arteries and their localization.
The above diagnostic methods can distinguish vascular spasm from other diseases, and prescribe timely, correct and sufficient treatment.