Angina – also known as angina pectoris is indicative of an underlying heart condition, where the heart is receiving insufficient blood supply, which culminates in lack of oxygen supply to the muscles of the heart. This happens when one or more arteries carrying the oxygenated blood has narrowed. This condition is called Arteriosclerosis. People over the age of 50 most commonly are impacted by angina.
There are 5 types of Angina:
- Stable Angina – when
the heart has to work harder than usual, pain occurs and if you are under treatment,
then after taking your medication, the pain goes away after a few minutes.
Pain occurs only due to extra exertion, therefore, it will be possible for
you to predict a pattern of such occurrences and adjust your lifestyle
suitably.
- Unstable Angina –
this is a more serious form of angina and as it is unstable, there is no
predictable pattern. People with unstable angina are at a risk for heart
attack and when pain occurs, it should be treated as an emergency. The
pain is a precursor to an imminent heart attack, so take it seriously and
get to a hospital.
- Variant Angina – or
Prinzmetal’s Angina is known to happen, generally between the hours of
midnight to 8 am, when a person is at rest. It also has no predictable
pattern, causes excruciating pain which is brought on by a spasm in the
coronary artery. People who experience Prinzmetal’s angina, generally have
a huge buildup of plaque (fat) in the arteries and when a variant angina
happens, it usually is when there is a near total block.
- Microvascular Angina
– occurs when, tiny blood vessels in the heart narrow down and stop
functioning. This condition is also called Syndrome – X. Even though the
larger arteries are not blocked by plaque, the dysfunctional smaller
arteries trigger a microvascular angina condition. This type of angina is
normally treated with medication.
- Atypical Angina – this
type of angina often does not cause pain. However, it may cause some
discomfort in the chest region and shortness of breath. Additionally,
there may be fatigue or nausea, and the patient may experience
indigestion, pain in the back, or neck region.
Other Common Cardiovascular Diseases
- Rheumatic – this
heart disease is caused by rheumatic fever and often occurs during
childhood. The heart, the valves of the heart, the sac surrounding the
heart and the muscles of the heart get damaged; example, scarring of the
valves and weakening of the heart muscles.
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) – Primary hypertension of unknown origins or secondary hypertension,
(caused by specific infections or diseases, such as disease or damage to
the kidneys, a tumor in the adrenal glands, or the blood vessels of any of
these organs in the body), affects the heart.
- Ischemic – a
cardiovascular disease that happens when the blood supply to the heart is
reduced because of the narrowed passage of the coronary arteries.
- Cerebrovascular –
refers to disease in the blood vessels of the brain, caused by either a
stroke or an accident to the brain, consequently impeding blood flow to
the brain.
- Inflammatory – the
myocarditis or muscles of the heart, the pericarditis or membrane sac
enclosing the heart, the endocarditis or the inner lining of the heart,
become inflamed due to either a known toxic agent, or because of an
infection of either known or unknown origin.
- Hypertensive – A
bulge in the wall of the blood vessel, also known as Aneurysm can occur
and grow bigger with time, consequently it could even rupture, which is a
life threatening situation. Aneurysms can happen because of weak walls in
the blood vessel (s) or due to high blood pressure. Aneurysms can occur
anywhere in the body, in the arteries, but most commonly occur in the arteries
at the base of the brain and in the abdominal aorta.
- Valvular – the heart
is comprised of 4 chambers called the right / left atria and the right
left ventricles. The blood flow, through the opening between the upper
chambers or atria to the lower, more muscular chambers, the ventricle, are
controlled by valves, which ensure that the blood flows in the right
direction. However, several types of conditions can cause damage to the
valves, which include:
- Regurgitation or insufficient blood supply (leakage)
- Stenosis where the valves narrow down preventing blood flow
- Prolapse where the valves do not close evenly or smoothly
Valvular heart
disease can occur due to radiation treatment from cancer, because of certain
infections to the connective tissues or due to rheumatic fever.
- Congenital – malformations in the structures of the heart, at birth are called congenital
heart diseases. Examples of congenital heart diseases are abnormal
chambers in the heart, hole in the heart and abnormal valves. This maybe
either genetic or due to exposure to certain elements while the baby was
in the womb.
- Pericardial Disease –
pertains to the sac that encloses the heart. The disorders that affect the
pericardium are, pericardial effusion (accumulation of fluid),
pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium), and constrictive
pericarditis (stiffness of the pericardium). The causes for these
disorders vary.
Cardiomyopathy – disorders in the muscles of the heart, is
called Cardiomyopathy. The underlying causes for this could be genetic, could
occur due to infections, or for some reasons still not understood. The most
common conditions are, where the heart is enlarged (idiopathic dilated
cardiomyopathy) and Hypertrophic (thickening of the heart muscles).
