Ischemic heart disease

Hi, I'm Dr. Steve Kopecky, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. And I'm here to answer some of the important questions you may have about coronary artery disease. Many small changes can lead to great benefit over time. Remember that nothing you do to improve your health is ever too little. And nothing you do to improve your health is ever too late. Cholesterol is always involved in the initiation of the narrowing of the arteries to the heart. And every plaque or narrowing of your arteries contains cholesterol. It is essential to control the cholesterol in order to optimally lower your chance of a heart attack. Yes. All the studies that have shown regression of arterial narrowing have done three things. First, take care of the obvious factors like high blood pressure, smoking and high cholesterol. Second, address diet and physical activity. And third, help patients manage stress. No. Half of the time, the first symptom a person has of coronary artery disease is actually a heart attack. And half of these heart attacks are fatal. So overall, for one out of four people, the first symptom is what we term sudden cardiac death. No. Studies have shown that even if your cholesterol is well control with medicines, if you do not eat a healthy diet, your heart attack, stroke, and death rate is not significantly reduced. Yes. Since your heart beats one hundred thousand times a day, even mild elevations of blood pressure above 130 over 80 can cause significant health problems, including heart...

Food, Some of those blood vessels are big, like highways. Others are small, like back roads. But if any of them gets stopped up, you have a serious problem called You usually get ischemia because of a build-up or blockage in your arteries. What it feels like and how it affects you depends on where you get it. But it can lead to life-threatening problems like a Why Does It Happen? One of the main causes of ischemia is You can also get ischemia because of a What Problems Does Ischemia Cause? A number of them -- and some can be life threatening, depending on where you get it. For example: • • • Legs: Doctors call this “critical limb ischemia.” It’s a severe condition you can get with • Are There Symptoms? Not always. Some people have silent ischemia in the If you do get symptoms, they vary based on where you have ischemia. If you think you might have it, get medical help right away. Here are areas where ischemia can happen and the symptoms you might experience: Heart • Chest pain (angina) • Heartbeat that’s faster than normal • Pain in your neck, jaw, • Shortness of breath when you • • • Very • • Passing out • Problems moving your body (weakness, numbness, or you can’t move your face, arm, or leg on one side of your body) • Slurred speech and a hard time understanding others Legs • Coldness and weakness in your legs • Pain in your • Severe pain in your legs, even when resting • Shiny, smooth • Sores that won’t heal Intestines • Severe belly pain • • Blood in your • • Feeling ...

Ischemic cardiomyopathy is an issue with damaged heart muscle that can’t pump blood well. Most of the time, coronary artery disease causes this damage by not allowing enough oxygen-rich blood to get to your heart muscle. Treatments range from medicines to surgeries. Your outlook depends on how much the lack of oxygen injured your heart muscle. Overview A lack of blood supply to heart muscle causes damage or ischemic cardiomyopathy. What is ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic This lack of blood weakens and enlarges the left ventricle in people with ischemic cardiomyopathy. Because your left ventricle is your heart’s main Ischemic cardiomyopathy is the most common type of Symptoms and Causes What are the symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic cardiomyopathy symptoms may include: • • Swelling in your legs and feet ( • Fatigue that makes you unable to exercise or carry out everyday activities. • • Weight gain, cough and congestion related to fluid retention. • • • Some people may not have symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy. What causes ischemic cardiomyopathy? Causes of ischemic cardiomyopathy are conditions that damage your heart muscle due to low blood flow, such as: • • • Coronary • • • • What are the risk factors for ischemic cardiomyopathy? Major risk factors of heart disease can put you at an increased risk for cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease and ischemic cardiomyopathy. These risk factors include: • Having a family history of heart disease. • Havin...

6 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States. Morbidity (other than hypertension) and death from cardiovascular disease occur after the age of 50. Death is due to coronary heart disease or cerebrovascular disease. Factors that contribute to increased risk of those diseases can be assumed to contribute either to chronic risk or to acute triggering of an event. Although dividing putative risk factors between chronic and acute effects is somewhat artificial, it is useful for the present review. If exposures that occurred in the Gulf War play a role in the onset of cardiovascular disorders, it is necessary to postulate that the exposures contribute to chronic processes, such as atherosclerosis. Those chronic processes are complex and multifactorial, eventually occur to some extent in nearly all adults, and are believed to begin in adolescence. There are many established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, including smoking, male sex, diabetes, hypertension, family history, and blood lipid concentrations. Determining that a relatively brief exposure to combustion products in the Persian Gulf is associated with occurrence or acceleration of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease—and results in increased incidence of disease years later—is a substantial challenge. Determining that such an effect occurs after an exposure-free period is even more difficult. The vascular biology of ischemic heart disease and the effect of...

Food, Some of those blood vessels are big, like highways. Others are small, like back roads. But if any of them gets stopped up, you have a serious problem called You usually get ischemia because of a build-up or blockage in your arteries. What it feels like and how it affects you depends on where you get it. But it can lead to life-threatening problems like a Why Does It Happen? One of the main causes of ischemia is You can also get ischemia because of a What Problems Does Ischemia Cause? A number of them -- and some can be life threatening, depending on where you get it. For example: • • • Legs: Doctors call this “critical limb ischemia.” It’s a severe condition you can get with • Are There Symptoms? Not always. Some people have silent ischemia in the If you do get symptoms, they vary based on where you have ischemia. If you think you might have it, get medical help right away. Here are areas where ischemia can happen and the symptoms you might experience: Heart • Chest pain (angina) • Heartbeat that’s faster than normal • Pain in your neck, jaw, • Shortness of breath when you • • • Very • • Passing out • Problems moving your body (weakness, numbness, or you can’t move your face, arm, or leg on one side of your body) • Slurred speech and a hard time understanding others Legs • Coldness and weakness in your legs • Pain in your • Severe pain in your legs, even when resting • Shiny, smooth • Sores that won’t heal Intestines • Severe belly pain • • Blood in your • • Feeling ...

Ischemic cardiomyopathy is an issue with damaged heart muscle that can’t pump blood well. Most of the time, coronary artery disease causes this damage by not allowing enough oxygen-rich blood to get to your heart muscle. Treatments range from medicines to surgeries. Your outlook depends on how much the lack of oxygen injured your heart muscle. Overview A lack of blood supply to heart muscle causes damage or ischemic cardiomyopathy. What is ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic This lack of blood weakens and enlarges the left ventricle in people with ischemic cardiomyopathy. Because your left ventricle is your heart’s main Ischemic cardiomyopathy is the most common type of Symptoms and Causes What are the symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic cardiomyopathy symptoms may include: • • Swelling in your legs and feet ( • Fatigue that makes you unable to exercise or carry out everyday activities. • • Weight gain, cough and congestion related to fluid retention. • • • Some people may not have symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy. What causes ischemic cardiomyopathy? Causes of ischemic cardiomyopathy are conditions that damage your heart muscle due to low blood flow, such as: • • • Coronary • • • • What are the risk factors for ischemic cardiomyopathy? Major risk factors of heart disease can put you at an increased risk for cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease and ischemic cardiomyopathy. These risk factors include: • Having a family history of heart disease. • Havin...

Hi, I'm Dr. Steve Kopecky, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. And I'm here to answer some of the important questions you may have about coronary artery disease. Many small changes can lead to great benefit over time. Remember that nothing you do to improve your health is ever too little. And nothing you do to improve your health is ever too late. Cholesterol is always involved in the initiation of the narrowing of the arteries to the heart. And every plaque or narrowing of your arteries contains cholesterol. It is essential to control the cholesterol in order to optimally lower your chance of a heart attack. Yes. All the studies that have shown regression of arterial narrowing have done three things. First, take care of the obvious factors like high blood pressure, smoking and high cholesterol. Second, address diet and physical activity. And third, help patients manage stress. No. Half of the time, the first symptom a person has of coronary artery disease is actually a heart attack. And half of these heart attacks are fatal. So overall, for one out of four people, the first symptom is what we term sudden cardiac death. No. Studies have shown that even if your cholesterol is well control with medicines, if you do not eat a healthy diet, your heart attack, stroke, and death rate is not significantly reduced. Yes. Since your heart beats one hundred thousand times a day, even mild elevations of blood pressure above 130 over 80 can cause significant health problems, including heart...

6 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States. Morbidity (other than hypertension) and death from cardiovascular disease occur after the age of 50. Death is due to coronary heart disease or cerebrovascular disease. Factors that contribute to increased risk of those diseases can be assumed to contribute either to chronic risk or to acute triggering of an event. Although dividing putative risk factors between chronic and acute effects is somewhat artificial, it is useful for the present review. If exposures that occurred in the Gulf War play a role in the onset of cardiovascular disorders, it is necessary to postulate that the exposures contribute to chronic processes, such as atherosclerosis. Those chronic processes are complex and multifactorial, eventually occur to some extent in nearly all adults, and are believed to begin in adolescence. There are many established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, including smoking, male sex, diabetes, hypertension, family history, and blood lipid concentrations. Determining that a relatively brief exposure to combustion products in the Persian Gulf is associated with occurrence or acceleration of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease—and results in increased incidence of disease years later—is a substantial challenge. Determining that such an effect occurs after an exposure-free period is even more difficult. The vascular biology of ischemic heart disease and the effect of...

Ischemic cardiomyopathy is an issue with damaged heart muscle that can’t pump blood well. Most of the time, coronary artery disease causes this damage by not allowing enough oxygen-rich blood to get to your heart muscle. Treatments range from medicines to surgeries. Your outlook depends on how much the lack of oxygen injured your heart muscle. Overview A lack of blood supply to heart muscle causes damage or ischemic cardiomyopathy. What is ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic This lack of blood weakens and enlarges the left ventricle in people with ischemic cardiomyopathy. Because your left ventricle is your heart’s main Ischemic cardiomyopathy is the most common type of Symptoms and Causes What are the symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy? Ischemic cardiomyopathy symptoms may include: • • Swelling in your legs and feet ( • Fatigue that makes you unable to exercise or carry out everyday activities. • • Weight gain, cough and congestion related to fluid retention. • • • Some people may not have symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy. What causes ischemic cardiomyopathy? Causes of ischemic cardiomyopathy are conditions that damage your heart muscle due to low blood flow, such as: • • • Coronary • • • • What are the risk factors for ischemic cardiomyopathy? Major risk factors of heart disease can put you at an increased risk for cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease and ischemic cardiomyopathy. These risk factors include: • Having a family history of heart disease. • Havin...

Hi, I'm Dr. Steve Kopecky, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. And I'm here to answer some of the important questions you may have about coronary artery disease. Many small changes can lead to great benefit over time. Remember that nothing you do to improve your health is ever too little. And nothing you do to improve your health is ever too late. Cholesterol is always involved in the initiation of the narrowing of the arteries to the heart. And every plaque or narrowing of your arteries contains cholesterol. It is essential to control the cholesterol in order to optimally lower your chance of a heart attack. Yes. All the studies that have shown regression of arterial narrowing have done three things. First, take care of the obvious factors like high blood pressure, smoking and high cholesterol. Second, address diet and physical activity. And third, help patients manage stress. No. Half of the time, the first symptom a person has of coronary artery disease is actually a heart attack. And half of these heart attacks are fatal. So overall, for one out of four people, the first symptom is what we term sudden cardiac death. No. Studies have shown that even if your cholesterol is well control with medicines, if you do not eat a healthy diet, your heart attack, stroke, and death rate is not significantly reduced. Yes. Since your heart beats one hundred thousand times a day, even mild elevations of blood pressure above 130 over 80 can cause significant health problems, including heart...