Heart Disease Overview

Arteriosclerosis, characterized by the hardening of arteries, encompasses a spectrum of diseases that impair arterial function, predominantly culminating in coronary artery diseases. It manifests across arteries of varying sizes and layers within the arterial walls, posing a significant threat to cardiovascular health.

Primarily accountable for the majority of fatalities attributed to heart attacks, arteriosclerosis initiates with cellular damage within the heart's arteries, paving the way for the development of arterial plaque—a composite of fibrous tissue and lipids. This plaque progressively expands, impeding or obstructing the arterial lumen, thereby curtailing blood flow.

In the event of coronary artery obstruction, crucial for delivering oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle, complete cessation of blood flow may precipitate a myocardial infarction, causing irreparable harm to cardiac tissue.

Arteriosclerosis, omnipresent among senior citizens, stands as the foremost chronic condition in the United States, emerging as the leading cause of mortality, particularly affecting individuals aged 40 to 70.

The ramifications of arteriosclerosis extend beyond mere hardening of arteries, permeating the fabric of cardiovascular health, warranting comprehensive preventive strategies and therapeutic interventions to mitigate its deleterious impact and curb its devastating toll on public health.
Heart Disease Overview

What is β -blocker?

β –blockers is one of a class of drugs most often used for the management of cardiac arrhythmias following heart attacks.

β -blockers are widely used in conventional medicine to treat high blood pressure (hypertension), insufficient blood flow to the heart (angina) and heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias).

They are called β-blockers because they block the effect of natural stimulants produced in the human body on β-receptors located in the heart, lung and blood vessels. β -blockers limit the heart rate and reduce anxiety and tremor.

β-blockers have been shown to prevent fatal and non fatal attacks and sudden cardiac death. A decrease in heart rate increases the diastolic interval drug which the coronary arteries are filled with blood.

β-blockers decrease the force and velocity of cardiac contraction and decrease the heart rate pressure product.

The drugs are prescribed to control anxiety and hypertension and to treat a variety of cardiac conditions, including anginal pain and cardiac arrhythmias.
What is β -blocker?

Blood clots

Thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot in the heart or in a blood vessel blocks circulation. In 90% of cases, the cause of a fatal or nonfatal heart attack is a blood clot in a coronary artery. The clot often occurs in the surface of a plaque of atheroma that is partially obstructing the lumen of the coronary artery.

Heart attacks, strokes, and varicose veins are all caused by blood clots, which may occur in different parts of the body.

Blood clots are believed to occur in the coronary arteries because of platelets that become sticky when they come in contact with the damaged lining of blood vessels, where atheroma formation had commenced.

A coronary thrombosis can block the blood supply to part of the heart muscle, causing breathlessness and a crushing chest pain. It is the most common cause of a heart attack.

Three coronary arteries supply the heart with blood; they are the right coronary artery and the two branches of the left coronary artery.

Their work is so important that it is dangerous if they are affected by a condition called atherosclerosis, on which fatty material builds up in the artery wall and narrows its blood –carrying channel.
Blood clots

Artery blockage

All heart attacks, myocardial infarctions, are caused by the blockage of a segment of a coronary artery. As a result, the corresponding portion of heart muscle receives in adequate oxygen.

Progression of coronary artery narrowing may occur very slowly. Complete blockage of the coronary artery may take months or even years.

Blockages to the coronary arteries are a major cause of heart disease and heart attacks and their associated disability and mortality.

This slow progression allows the growth of new blood vessels from other coronary arteries into the branches of the blocked artery. These new blood vessels are called collaterals.

Blockage in the arteries is built up to the danger point while the victim is totally unaware.

Everyone has two major coronary arteries: the left main coronary artery and the right coronary artery. Both have major branches. The left circumflex coronary supplies oxygenated blood to the left ventricle and the right circumflex carries blood to the right ventricle.

The substances responsible for obstructing the arteries are cholesterol, fats, inorganic minerals and fibrous tissue. The inner passages of the arteries can become so narrow that not enough blood can flow through to properly nourish the powerful heart muscle.
Artery blockage