Cardiovascular diseases

• Cardiovascular diseases are diseases of the heart and blood vessels
• Cardiovascular diseases are noncommunicable (not infectious, can’t be passed from person to person)
• Coronary heart disease is when fatty materials build up inside the coronary arteries and blocks them

  The arteries become narrow so blood flow is restricted and there’s a lack of oxygen to the heart muscle

  Can result in a heart attack
• Statins are drugs that can reduce the amount of ‘bad‘ cholesterol present in the bloodstream. This slows down the rate of fatty deposits forming in the arteries
• advantages of statins:

  1. reduce risk of strokes, coronary heart disease and heart attacks by reducing amounts of cholesterol
  2. Can increase the amounts of a beneficial type of cholesterol ( good or HDL cholesterol)
  3. May help prevent some other diseases
• Disadvantages of statins:

  1. must be taken regularly, risk someone forgets to take the drug
  2. Can sometimes cause negative side effects : headaches, liver damage, kidney failure
  3. Effects aren’t instant , takes time
• A stent is a tube inserted inside arteries to keep them open, making sure blood can pass through to the heart muscle , keeps the persons heart beating
• Stents are a way of lowering the risk of a heart attack in people with coronary heart disease
• Stents are effective for a long time and the recovery time from the surgery is relatively quick
• There is a risk of complications with stents,

  • Risk of infection from the surgery
  • Risk of patient developing a blood clot near the stent (called thrombosis)
• Advantages of artificial heart:

  • Less likely to be rejected by the body’s immune system ( than a donors heart)
• Disadvantages of an artificial heart:

  • Lead to bleeding and infection
  • Don’t work as healthy natural ones
  • Parts of heart can wear out or electrical motor could fail
  • Blood doesn’t flow through artificial hearts as smoothly, can cause blood clots and lead to strokes
• When heart valves are faulty, we can replace them valves from humans or other mammals (biological valves) or they can be man-made (mechanical valves)
• Why would you need a valve replaced?

  If valves are damaged or weakened by heart attacks, infections, or old age. the damage may cause the valve tissue to stiffen, so it doesn’t open properly

  Or a valve may become leaky, allowing blood to flow in both directions, meaning blood doesn’t circulate as effectively