Coronary Artery Disease (Cad): Insights & Prevention

Coronary Artery Disease goes by many names Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Heart Disease (HD), and Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD). It is the most commonly found form of Cardiac Disease. A Coronary Artery Disease is caused when the arteries of the heart get blocked due to the build-up of fatty deposits in them. This build-up causes the flow of blood to the heart muscles to slow down, making it difficult for the heart to function properly.

With the development of technology and medical science, more cures (temporary and permanent) are being developed to help mend the damage caused due to Coronary Artery Disease. Depending upon the severity when caught and the exact kind of issue, Coronary Artery Disease treatment can prove greatly effective and safe for patients. 

In this article, we will be looking at some ways in which coronary artery diseases affect humans and what can be done to prevent or treat them. 

While there are a lot of options for Coronary Heart Disease Treatment, it is always advisable to prevent it and observe a lifestyle that delays the onset of such ailments. To prevent the early onset of Coronary Artery Disease, the following measures can be taken: 

Lifestyle Modifications- Make sure that you lead a heart-healthy lifestyle. What this means is observing and inculcating healthy habits like not smoking, including physical activity and exercises, eating a balanced diet, making time for yourself to destress, consuming low cholesterol food, managing alcohol use in your daily life. It is about making it a lifestyle rather than considering it a diet or workout regime as it would be easier to stick to it if you consider it your preferred way of living, rather than prevention or a cure procedure for something. Coronary Artery Diseases come in many forms and affect every person. What differs is how sooner or later and how severely they affect different people, which is why a healthy lifestyle goes a long way in delaying the onset and managing the severity of Coronary Artery Disease.

1. Don’t forget your medicines- If you are already suffering from any level of Coronary Artery Disease and have been prescribed any medications, ensure that you take them regularly as per instructions given by your medical practitioner or healthcare provider. Do not forget any doses as they may have harmful effects. If suffering from Coronary Artery Disease, several methods and treatments can be opted for.  In very severe cases, a Cardiac Bypass Surgery may be needed, but this is often the last resort taken in CAD treatment. While there is no absolute cure for Coronary Artery Disease, treatments used are basically to manage the symptoms and keep your heart working and delay fatality. Some of them include:

2. Medications like Beta Blockers are prescribed as means to rest the heart. They work by reducing blood pressure. Beta Blockers are usually prescribed to patients who have suffered a heart attack already.  Nitroglycerin is another medication that is prescribed by doctors to help manage the symptoms of Coronary Artery Disease. This medication helps in Coronary Artery Disease Treatment by relaxing the heart muscles, thereby requiring a lower amount of blood flow demanded from the heart. This, in turn, helps reduce the chest pain that the patient might be experiencing.

3. Calcium Channel Blockers are a widely used method of treating coronary artery disease. How these medication works are by expanding and opening the arteries just enough to ease the flow of blood into the heart muscles. They also help in reducing hypertension 

4. Statins are another widely used medication for Coronary Heart Disease Treatment. These medications help by managing the plaque build-up so that it does not rupture. As we know, Coronary Artery Disease is caused by a major plaque build-up in the arteries, causing slower blood flow to the heart muscles, thereby making them weak. As Statins help manage the plaque build-up, they act directly on the cause of Coronary Heart Disease.

5. Aspirin is another leading medication prescribed by doctors when suffering from a stroke or angina because it helps to prevent the formation of clots on the plaque. If clots are formed on the plaque build-up, it can have fatal effects. First of all, clots further slow down the flow of blood to the heart muscles. In rare cases, a clot may even break from the plaque and float up to the brain, thereby causing haemorrhage and stroke, leading to death.

6. The second Treatment method is surgery. In severe cases, a Cardiac Bypass Surgery is performed, while in others, which are still serious but yet easier to control, and Angioplasty or Stent Replacement does the job.

7. An angioplasty is a less invasive CAD Treatment as compared to a Bypass surgery. This is because, in an Angioplasty, the surgeon inserts a catheter in the affected artery and inflates a balloon in there in order to push the plaque or fat towards the walls so that the artery gets more space. Thereafter, he may place a stent to keep the plaque pushed back and keep the artery open. 

8. Bypass surgery, on the other hand, involves a surgeon taking an artery from another part of the body like the leg, for example, and using that to fix or replace the artery which is blocked. Thus, making this procedure incredibly invasive and risky to be performed.

9. In very rare situations, where neither treatment can prove helpful due to the amount of damage to the heart, a heart transplant surgery may be performed in which certain damaged parts of the heart would be replaced by a healthier heart from a donor. 

While there are a few Coronary Artery Disease treatment options available to fix a situation, it is always advised to prevent an illness by developing healthier habits that will benefit our overall well being, rather than leading an unhealthy lifestyle because the more unhealthy we live, the sooner we risk getting life-threatening illnesses. In fact, even doctors are now suggesting lifestyle changes are the first form of treatment.