coronary artery disease?

Connie Dickirson: the physical effect is tiredness, angina and possible stroke...once you have the disease you have it for life but you can take percautions to help it see your doc about medication to lower cholesterol and possibly a dietitian on changing your eating habits

Betsey Copp: Coronary artery disease is caused by narrowing of the lumen of the coronary arteries by plaques. The exact mechanism by which placques are formed is still under investigation, but it is known that high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat in the diet will lead to an increased level of coronary artery disease in the general population. Smoking has also been shown to be a major factor in causing coronary artery disease.Coronary artery disease will evetually lead to loss of blood flow to the heart muscle (an ischemic event) AKA a heart attack. If an ischemic event is not promptly and propely treated it can mean that the heart can be permanently damaged. The best treatment for cor! onary artery disease is preventative. A healthy lifestyle including a diet that is low in cholesterol and saturated fat and includes plenty of exercise and no smoking is the best method for avoiding the disease in the first place. Once the disease has occured the treatment is usually medical, vasodilators and improvements is lifestyle are the best options. If the blockage is bad enough it may be necessary to perform angioplasty or to insert a stent to open the artery. These procedures are performed by inserting a long tube (a catheter) into the femoral artery of the right leg near the crotch and pushing the catheter all the way through the aorta and into the heart. The placques are located by injecting a dye into the blood flow of the coronary arteries and taking a high speed x-ray movie of the dye as it moves through the heart. When the blockages have been located the catheter is pushed into position and a small balloon is inserted through the catheter into the arter! y and expanded to open the lumen of the artery, this is called! angioplasty. It is also possible to open the lumen of the artery by insertion of a small spring like device called a stent. Which procedure is used will depend on the location of the placque and the severity of the blockage. Surgical treatment by bypass in which a vein is taken from the leg and sutured into the artery to form a bypass around the blockage has been extensively used in the past, but has lost favor with improvements in medical management and catherization treatments....Show more

Marcellus Yoshimori: ischemia(cell starvation secondary to a lack of oxygen),angina(pain),pulmonary edema,and can lead to myocardial infarction (commonly called a heart attack).Treatment aims to balance blood supply to the heart with heart oxygen demand, and prevent worsening of coronary heart disease. aspirins,beta blockers,nitroglycerin,calcium channel blockerts, ace inhibitors,statins etc can be used...Show more