Atherosclerosis, one of the leading causes of death in the country, is a condition in the arteries that is characterized by the deposition of plaque on the arterial walls. While the exact cause of atherosclerosis is unknown, it is a slow, complex disease that begins developing during childhood, and progresses faster with age.1 Certain factors such as smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and increased concentrations of sugar in the blood (or diabetes), play a role in the development of atherosclerosis by damaging the endothelium and inner layers of the arteries.1 Plaque begins to build up and harden in the areas where the inner layers of the arteries are damaged.1 These areas of plaque potentially rupture or burst, which encourages platelets to attack to the site of the injury and clump there, forming blood clots.1 These blood clots combined with plaque narrow arteries even more, which further limits the flow and delivery of oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.1 Atherosclerosis can ultimately cause a heart attack (blood flow to the heart is blocked), a stroke (blood flow to the brain is blocked), or angina (chest pain) depending on the artery damaged.1
Lifestyle changes include healthy eating, physical activity, managing stress, and quitting smoking. The medicine prescribed to patients with atherosclerosis is aimed at the factors that influence atherosclerosis, like statin medications to control or lower cholesterol levels and medications to lower blood pressure, blood sugar levels, or prevent the formation of blood clots or inflammation.2 The aim is to lower the lipid concentration as well as adding anti-inflammatory therapies, which can ultimately slow down the progression of atherosclerosis.3 However, these treatments are not able to completely inhibit the development or growth of these atherosclerotic lesions and only have a 30-40% efficiency
Bursill, C. A., Channon, K. M., & Greaves, D. R. (2004). The role of chemokines in atherosclerosis: recent evidence from experimental models and population genetics.Current Opinion in Lipidology. 15, 145-149.
Cardiomyopathy, by definition, means the weakening of the heart muscle. The heart is operated by a striated muscle that relies on the autonomic nervous system to function. Cardiomyopathy is diagnosed in four different ways based on what caused the illness and exactly what part of the heart is weakened. The four main types of cardiomyopathy are dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. One other category of cardiomyopathy that is diagnosed is “unclassified cardiomyopathy.” Unclassified cardiomyopathy is the weakening of the heart that does not fit into the main four categories.
An artery is an elastic blood vessel that transports blood away from the heart. There are two main types of arteries: pulmonary arteries and systemic arteries.
LDL or bad cholesterol comes from food that is a high source of cholesterol and/or saturated fats. Plaque forms when bad or LDL cholesterol builds up in your bloodstream and attaches to the arterial wall, as more LDL builds up the plaque becomes larger, this can become a major problem for your cardiovascular system. Because plaque is a substance that has rough edges, it reduces the elastic nature of the artery which means your heart will have to work double-time to pump the necessary blood to all your limbs, that will mean your limbs won’t get the amount of oxygen that they require to function properly. Plaque can also narrow the area blood has to pass through, this means your heart has to work overtime and overall capacity of your cardiovascular system is lowered. When the LDL cholesterol embeds itself in the wall of the artery it than damages the artery then blood pressure expands it which causes an aneurysm. When an aneurysm is too weak there is a high possibility of it bursting, when that happens it leaves the cells in and around that area without oxygen. If that artery is connected to a major vital organ the person will most likely die. When the blood flow is slowed it shows a greater risk for blood clots and although blood clots are natural and important to healing broken blood vessels, if blood clots gather inside the blood vessel this proves to be a serious health risk. The clots have the possibility to get stuck and completely cut off the blood flow to cells, leaving them without oxygen and causing them to die. If a clot gets inside a blood vessel connected to a major organ this could cause the person to die. The heart is fed by the coronary artery, if plaque or a blood clot blocks off blood flow to the heart, the heart ...
Although atherosclerosis affects millions of people around the world, there are many ways to prevent and treat it once it has developed. Simple life style changes can greatly reduce the inflammation and damage to the endothelial wall of the artery. It is very important that people who have high blood pressure or diabetes get regular checkups; if atherosclerosis goes untreated, the adverse effects, such as stroke or myocardial infarction can be deadly.
The preliminary step in myocardial infarction is atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis does not occur abruptly, it is a gradual and dynamic inflammatory disease which causes the narrowing of lumen due to the deposition of lipid and foam cells. The formation of fatty streak; which will eventually become a plaque causes the vessel lumen to diminish. The plaque will become unstable, rupture and eventually lead to the event of plaque disruption.
CAD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the worldwide. The prevalence of biological and metabolic risk factors were also found to be high in development of coronary artery disease. Patients with hypercholesterolemia are at increased risk to experience cardiovascular events and to die from vascular disease [2]. .Statins, among the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide, are cholesterol let downing agents used to manage cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases and to treat hypercholesterolemia. Statin’s therapy ...
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, causing the heart muscle to become enlarged, thick or rigid. In rare cases, the muscle tissue in the heart is replaced with scar tissue.
...smoking, high cholesterol diet, age, gender, sedentary lifestyle, contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy. Nurses can fill significant treatment gaps in the risk factor management of patient with coronary heart disease. “Cardiac rehabilitation programs including nursing education exert a beneficial effect on patients’ quality of life, exercise capacity, lipid profile, body mass index, body weight, blood pressure, resting heart rate, survival rate, mortality rate and decreased myocardial infarction risk factors.” ( Health Science Journal, 2012). Healthcare professionals should discuss with the patients therapeutic lifestyle changes, emphasizing the role of diet in heart disease. Nurses should provide information and teaching about medications to lower cholesterol levels and also discuss the relationship between diabetes, hypertension and CAD.
There are many causes in America that leads to mortality. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in America. Coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and other diseases can lead to heart failure. Coronary heart disease cost an estimate of $108.9 billion for the United States in 2010. The total costs include medications, decrease in productivity, and medical services.
It can be prevented naturally by practicing vegetarianism which refers to those who practice a diet low in meat and fish or may not consume meat products at all. Vegetarianism diet offers an advantage because people who practice or change their lifestyle to no meat consumption have lower body mass index (BMI), and can reverse the effects of atherosclerosis. (reducing, 2010). However, people have to be careful while practicing it because a poorly vegetarian diet can cause anemia, fatigue, decreased zinc, decreased vitamin C. Also it can decrease B12 and this may cause neural tube defects, congenital heart defects, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. It is very important to educate vegetarians to have a vitamin B supplementation to prevent another type of conditions. (reducing, 2010). There is another way to prevent or reverse heart disease by consuming seven heart nutrients which are fiber, fish oil, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K, zinc, and COQ10. Also, there are statin drugs such as Crestor (rosuvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin) that are being prescribe to cholesterol-lowering but there is a concern about their safety and effectiveness. There is an alternative to these types of drugs. The statin alternatives are Niacin (B3) known to be effective in lowering blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and citrus flavones that work blocking the enzymes in the liver
Thompson, P. D., Buchner, D., Pina, I. L., Balady, G. J., Williams, M. A., Marcus, B. H., ... Wenger, N. K. (2003). Exercise in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a statement from the Council on Clinical Cardiology. Journal of the American Heart Association, 3110-3116. http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000075572.40158.77
Throughout history, it seems that medicine and spirituality have been linked in many circumstances. In a study looking at the use of complementary and alternative therapies in cardiac patients, spiritual healing was one of many practices patient sought to utilize. In another study, 29% of participants chose to use prayer or premeditation as a way to cope with their chronic illness. In both studies, prayer or meditation was more likely to be used by individuals who had a large social network, as well as support from another person in the same health situation. Based on these studies, it seems that many individuals (not just cardiovascular patients) turn to their spirituality in times of health distress.
(Slide 2) What is Cardiomyopathy? If we break down the word we can see “Cardio” which means of the heart, “myo” which means muscle, and “pathy” which means disease, therefore cardiomyopathies are diseases of the heart muscle. (Slide 3) There are 3 main types of cardiomyopathies; hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive. I will only be discussing dilated cardiomyopathy, which is characterized by the enlargement of the hearts chambers with impaired systolic function. It is estimated that as many as 1 of 500 adults may have this condition. Dilated cardiomyopathy is more common in blacks than in whites and in males than in females. It is the most common form of cardiomyopathy in children and it can occur at any age (CDC).
Oxygen was first admitted to the client with chest pain over 100 years ago (Metcalfe, 2011). Chest pain is a large bracket that can contain many different conditions, but for the purpose of this analysis it is focused manly upon a myocardial infarction. A myocardial infarction is mainly referred to as a heart attack, and occurs when one or more coronary arteries leading to the heart reduce or completely stop blood flow (Tuipulotu, 2013 ). Administering high concentrations of oxygen to patients with chest pain is now embedded in guidelines, protocols and care pathways, even with a lack of clear supporting evidence (Nicholson, 2004 ). High concentration of oxygen means that up to 60% is administered (Knott, 2012). More recent research has suggested that the use of oxygen in this scenario is unnecessary and can lead to unwanted side effects, especially in normoxic cardiac patients (Moradkham & Sinoway, 2010 ). The aim of this comparative analysis is to dismantle and understand both the benefits and risks of the commonly known practice of administration of oxygen to the client with chest pain. Through completing this analysis using recent and appropriate evidence a more improved practice can be given and understood.