Heart Angina
By: Robert NamTotal Views: 343, Word Count: 832,
Angina is a chest pain, which appears when the muscles cells of the heart do not get enough supply of blood to carry out its pumping function. In such condition, you may feel like pressure or a squeezing pain in your chest and like indigestion. Moreover, you may also feel pain in your shoulders, neck, arms, jaw, or back. Angina is also known as angina pectoris.
Angina is a symptom for the coronary artery disease (CAD) which is the most common heart disease. It is also known as a one of the warning signs for the risk of heart attack. There are mainly three types of angina which a person can experience. i.e. stable, unstable, and variant angina.
- Stable Angina – This is the most common type of angina, which usually people experience. When the heart works harder than its normal pattern, the heart needs to pump more blood. This pain usually goes away after a few minutes or after the consumption of medicine. Even though the stable angina is not a heart attack but it can be the sign or risk factor for the heart attack in future.
- Unstable Angina- This is the most dangerous type of angina the person can experience. It does not have any pattern and it can occur in any situation such as in excitement, emotional or while doing physical activities. This angina is very hard to predict. Usually, this pain does not go away with any medicines or resting. It requires an emergency treatment since it is a sign that a heart attack is very likely to happen in the future.
- Variant Angina – It is a very rare type of angina. It usually happens when the body is at rest and comes with a sever pain. Normally this pain occurs in midnight or in the early morning.
Causes of Heart Angina
The main cause of angina is coronary artery disease (CAD). The other common cause of the angina is spasm of the coronary arteries. The other causes of the chest pain or the angina are
1. Pleurittis
2. Pericarditis
3. Pneumonia
4. Pulmonary embolism
5. Pneumothorax
6. Mitra valve prolapse
7. Aortic dissection
8. Anxiety
Symptoms of Heart Angina
Angina is the chest discomfort or pain, which occurs due to decreased rate of blood oxygen supply to an area of the heart muscles. In most of the cases, the lack of blood supply is due to the narrowing of the coronary arteries. Following are the symptoms of the heart angina. The pain or symptoms, which usually occur to the neck, arms, jaw, back, or the teeth, are
- Pressure
- Heaviness
- tightening
- aching
- squeezing
Patients of heart angina may also suffer from the following symptoms such as
- Indigestion
- Heart burn
- Weakness
- Sweating
- Weakness
- Nausea
- Shortness of breath
- Cramping
Risk factors of Heart Angina
The Risk factors for the heart angina includes.
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Poor cholesterol level
- Lack of exercise
- Obesity
- High rate of sodium intake
- Excessive alcohol use
- Women who are postmenopausal
- Family history of early CAD, stroke
Diagnosis for Heart Angina
Usually, angina is the warning sign for the significant heart attack or coronary artery disease. Diagnosis for the heart angina can be done through following test.
- Electrocardiogram (EKG)
- Exercise stress test
- Cardiac catheterization
- Stress echocardiography
- CT coronary angiogram
Treatment for Heart Angina
Treatment for the heart angina includes the following options.,
· Rest
· Medications such as nitroglycerin, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers.
· Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)
· Coronary artery bypass graft surgery
The above information will surely help you to know about the heart angina. Heart angina is a very dangerous condition, which can even cost your precious life, so it is very much important for the one to be attentive towards their health.
About the Author
Dr. Robert Nam is a well known heart specialist and has done postgraduate training in cardiology at the national heart hospital, the London chest hospital and UCL hospital, London. He was also engaged in research at the national heart and lung institute. Nowadays he is working as a consultant cardiologist at UCL hospital, London.
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