Cardiovascular disease

• Cardiovascular disease

  A general term that refers to diseases of the cardiovascular system, which is the heart and blood vessels
• Coronary heart disease

  When the coronary arteries which supply blood to the heart muscle start to get blocked by the buildup of layers of fatty material, causing the lumen of the arteries to become narrower so that less blood and oxygen can reach the heart muscle
• Treatments for coronary heart disease

  1. Stents

  2. Statins
• Stent

  An expandable tube placed inside arteries to hold them open and ensure blood flow
• Stents

  • Relatively quick surgery, effective for a long time
  • Risks include heart attack, infection, blood clot
• Statins

  Medications that alter the balance of cholesterol in the bloodstream, decreasing bad LDL cholesterol and increasing good HDL cholesterol
• Statins

  • Need to be taken regularly for years, can cause side effects like headaches and kidney failure
• Faulty heart valves

  When heart valves become damaged or weakened, either not allowing enough blood to pass through or allowing blood to leak backwards
• Treatments for faulty heart valves

  1. Replace with biological valve (human, pig, cow)

  2. Replace with mechanical valve
• Heart valve replacements

  • Require surgery, ongoing risk of blood clots
• Heart failure


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

  1. Medications

  2. Heart transplant (biological or artificial)
• Heart transplants

  • Biological hearts from donors are preferred, but hard to find and risk of rejection
  • Artificial hearts are a temporary fix, not as good as biological
• Sometimes people require a heart and lung transplant if both are diseased, but this is very complicated surgery