Coronary heart disease: a non-communicable disease

• Coronary heart disease is when layers of fatty material build up in coronary arteries and narrow them, reducing blood flow through them and so reducing the supply of oxygen to heart muscle. Coronary heart disease can lead to heart attacks
• How do stents reduce the risk of a heart attack in people with coronary heart disease?

  Stents are used to hold open the coronary arteries of people with coronary heart disease. This improves blood flow in the coronary arteries and so improves the supply of oxygen to heart muscle, reducing the risk of a heart attack
• Advantages of using stents to treat people with coronary heart disease

  • Short recovery time after surgery to insert them
  • they can quickly have a positive effect
  • they can stay in place and work for a long time
• Disadvantages of using stents to treat people with coronary heart disease

  • Surgery comes with a risk of infection
  • surgery complications (heart attack)
  • Blood clots can form inside stents and cause heart attacks
• • Statins are drugs that can reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, which slows down the build up of fatty material in arteries

  Statins are used to:

  • help prevent coronary heart disease
  • reduce the risk of a heart attack in people with coronary heart disease
• Advantages of using statins to lower blood cholesterol

  • They’re taken as pills so no surgery is required
  • they can reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks as well as coronary heart disease
• Disadvantages of using statins to lower blood cholesterol

  • They take weeks to lower blood cholesterol
  • People need to remember to take them regularly for the rest of their lives
  • possible side effects (most common: aching muscles)
• Heart valve faults

  • Valve doesn’t open fully: the heart works harder to pump blood through the faulty valve
  • valve becomes leaky: blood can flow in the wrong direction, so the heart works harder to maintain blood flow
• Faulty heart valves can be replaced with:

  • biological valves made from animal tissue
  • mechanical valves made from synthetic materials
• Biological replacement heart valve is better than mechanical ones because blood clots are less likely to form on biological replacement heart valves than mechanical ones
• Mechanical replacement heart valves are better than biological ones because mechanical replacement heart valves usually last longer than biological ones, so they don’t need replacing as often. Replacing a valve requires surgery: which has risks.
• Why might someone be given an artificial heart?

  • They are waiting for a heart transplant, it could help keep them alive until a donor heart becomes available
  • their heart needs to rest and heal, e.g. recover after heart failure
• Advantages of using artificial hearts to treat heart failure

  • They can help improve a patient’s general health, making a heart transplant more likely to succeed
  • they give the patients more time to do things like spend time with their family and friends
• Disadvantages of using artificial hearts to treat heart failure

  • they’re not a permanent solution
  • there’s a risk of blood clots forming in an artificial heart, which could cause a stroke
  • surgery is needed to fit an artificial heart, which risks infection and complications.