Heart disease is a general term that covers about 50 different diseases of the heart. The heart is made up of four ventricles, four valves, lining, muscles and an electrical system. This intricate system works together to keep the heart beating between 60-80 beats per minute and keeping the blood flowing to our important body organs and our brain.
The chambers of the heart are made up of the right and left atria and ventricles. Blood flows into the right atrium and dumps the oxygen depleted blood there. The blood then goes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. The tricuspid valve closes tightly to avoid having blood leak back into the atrium. Once the tricuspid valve is closed, the right ventricle contracts (squeezes) pumping the blood out through the pulmonic valve and into your lungs. Here, your blood is re-oxygenated by your lungs. The oxygenated blood is then sent to your left atrium. The left atrium pumps the blood into the left ventricle through the mitral valve. The mitral valve closes and the left ventricle pumps the oxygenated blood out to your body and organs through the aorta.
This blood flow through the heart is continuous, unless interrupted by disease. Disease can effect every area of your heart. There are many different types of heart disease. Let's start by looking at the diseases that effect the blood flow through your arteries and your heart:
• Coronary Artery Disease (CAD):
Coronary artery disease is the number one killer in the U.S. CAD is caused by high cholesterol. The cholesterol in the blood is too high, causing the cholesterol to break through the coronary arteries and stick to the artery lining. This causes a plague (cholesterol) buildup inside your coronary arteries. This buildup of plaque causes an obstruction of blood flow to your heart, causing your heart to "choke". This continuous "choking" of the heart, can cause chest pain (angina), and ultimately a risk for a heart attack.
• Heart Attack:
A heart attack can happen when the blood flow to the heart is blocked. This happens mainly because of a lifetime of high cholesterol and plague buildup in the arteries.
• Myocardial Ischemia:
This happens when the myocardium (heart wall muscle) is not getting enough oxygenated blood. The heart has to work harder for the oxygen, causing chest pain (angina), fatigue and shortness of breath.
• Aneurysms:
The arteries of the heart are supposed to be pliable,elastic, muscular and thick. When the arteries are weakened by disease, bulges can form in the walls of the arteries. These bulges are called aneurysms. Aneurysms can burst and may require surgical intervention.
The heart is a muscle that pumps oxygenated blood and nutrients through your body. When the muscle of the heart is diseased, the heart could fail (heart failure) and without treatment, you could die. Let's look at some of the diseases of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy):
• Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy (HCM):
HCM is the second most common form of heart muscle disease. It is thought to be genetic. It is usually diagnosed during infancy or adolescence. HCM happens when there is an abnormal growth in the heart (hypertrophic), that causes the heart to stiffen (cardiomyopathy). This makes it hard for the chambers to fill completely because the heart has trouble relaxing (resting). Ultimately the heart cannot pump enough blood out to the rest of the body. There is currently no cure for HCM. Treatment is aimed at decreasing the symptoms like shortness of breath or irregular heart beats.
• Dilated Congested Cardiomyopathy (DCM):
DCM is the most common type of disease to the heart muscle. DCM causes heart failure by damaging the heart muscles fibers, causing weakening in the walls of the hearts chambers. This causes enlargement of the heart and heart failure. The blood in the heart backs up, causing congestion in the blood which causes swelling in the hands, feet, lungs, liver and heart.
• Myocarditis:
Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle usually caused by a virus. The inflammation damages your heart and could cause heart failure. Treatment is aimed at preventing heart failure, and also treating the other symptoms. Although it is common to not have any symptoms from myocarditis, when symptoms do appear, some are chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue.
The lining of the heart is called the Endocardium. The endocardium helps the blood flow smoothly through the heart. It covers the chambers and the valves and is made up mostly of epithelium cells (skin cells). The endocardium can end up with a bacterial infection called:
• Bacterial Endocarditis (BE) :
BE is a bacterial infection of the lining of your heart. The bacteria can get into the heart valves and damage or destroy them. BE is a serious infection that can be fatal.
The heart valves are thin leaflets or cusps that prevent the back- flow of blood in the heart. The flow can be impeded by "floppy" valves that allow back-flow, or "stiff" valves that don't open. These abnormalities are called:
• Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP):
The mitral valve is between the left atrium and left ventricle. The cusps on the valve become "floppy" (loosen up) and start letting blood back-flow into the left atrium. This back-flow or regurgitation causes less blood to go out through the aorta and into the body. This means less oxygen for the body, which causes weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath and can also lead to congested heart failure. Surgical replacement of the valve might be necessary.
• Aortic Stenosis:
Aortic stenosis is "narrowing" of the aortic valve. This narrowing impedes the flow of blood from the left ventricle through the aorta and out to the rest of the body. If the aortic valve becomes too narrow, surgical replacement of the valve is required. Aortic stenosis can result in sudden death, usually during exertion, in 4% of patients.
The electrical system in the heart is called the Cardiac Conduction System. The cardiac conduction system regulates your hearts beats. A heart beat is a single cycle in which your hearts chambers (atrium and ventricles) contract and relax to pump blood through your body. The built in pacemaker (AV node) tells your heart when to beat. Arrhythmia's are irregular heart beats. They can be super fast and/ or irregular with skipped beats. Most arrhythmia's are harmless, but some can be serious and even fatal:
• Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib):
V-fib can cause sudden death. There is usually a heart disease already established with V-fib. In V-fib, the heart rate is rapid and chaotic, causing the ventricles to go into a deadly spasm.. V-fib happens without any warning. It stops all cardiac functioning. CPR generally will not help V-fib, only a defibrillator seems to help regulate the heart rate in V-fib.
• Atrial Fibrillation (A-fib):
Atrial fibrillation is the irregular and fast heart beat in the atrium. More than 2 million people in the U.S. have A-fib. A-fib is not life threatening, but it can lead to congested heart failure and chronic fatigue syndrome. Treatment is aimed at controlling further disease of the heart.
The heart is the most important muscle in your body. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. High cholesterol is the number one cause of heart disease.
We need to start eating healthier and exercising so that our hearts are healthier. It's an easy lifestyle change that for some reason is much too difficult for most of us to achieve. Maybe if we take a look at all the diseases of the heart, it will help us to make the right choice to protect us from heart disease.
If you are having any heart problems like chest pain, indigestion or heart burn, you should make an appointment to see your doctor for evaluation of a heart disease. You doctor may refer you to a cardiologist for further evaluation if he/she suspects heart disease.
Take good care of your heart and it will take good care of you!.
Sources:
Reese,Steven LPN
http://www.wehealny.org/services/cardiology/symptoms 2.html
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw _pumping.html
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identif ier=4455
http://www.med.yale.edu/library/heartbk/15.pdf
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/0001 49.htm
http://www.heart.org