Cardiovascular disease

• Cardiovascular system

  Heart, blood, blood vessels
• Coronary heart disease

  Layers of fatty material build up inside the coronary arteries causing them to become narrower resulting in a lack of oxygen due to reduced flow of blood
• How to stents help treat coronary heart disease

  Stents are tube shaped devices placed inside the coronary arteries that expand to keep arteries open allowing blood to flow more easily
• 3 advantages of stents

  Quick surgery

  Last a long time

  Immediate effect
• Statins

  Statins are medication that reduce the levels of LDL cholesterol and increase the levels of HDL cholesterol in the blood.

  This slows the rate at which fatty material is deposited in the coronary arteries
• 3 disadvantages of using statins

  Side effects such as kidney failure and headaches

  Pills have to be taken everyday

  Can take months to see positive effects
• 2 problems caused by faulty heart valves

  Not enough blood can pass through the valve

  Blood can pass backwards through the valve
• 2 replacement heart valves

  Biological valves which come from other animals (pigs or cows)

  Mechanical valves which are man made often metal
• Heart failure

  When the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly
• 3 treatments for heart failure

  Replacement with a biological heart

  Replacement with a mechanical heart

  Medication
• Why might a biological donor heart be rejected

  Immune system might identify the heart as foreign so mount a defence against it
• Are artificial donor hearts rejected?

  No as typically they are made of metal and plastics which don’t trigger an immune response