Coronary Artery Disease: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Do you know that Coronary Artery Disease is a common heart condition?

The major blood vessels that supply your heart i.e. coronary arteries struggle to send enough blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the heart muscles, which leads to this disease.

Moreover, cholesterol deposits or plaques in the heart arteries and inflammation are often the cause of coronary artery disease.

Signs and symptoms of coronary artery disease occur when your heart does not have oxygen-rich blood.

In case you have coronary artery disease, you can experience a reduction in blood flow to the heart.

It can cause chest pain or angina and shortness of breath.

A complete blockage of blood flow can cause a heart attack.

Furthermore, coronary artery disease often develops over decades, and symptoms can go unnoticed until a significant blockage causes problems.

Thus, following a heart-healthy lifestyle can help to prevent this condition.

Keep on reading to learn more about it in detail.

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease, CAD, or coronary heart disease develops when your coronary artery becomes too narrow.

Or it can develop when cholesterol blockage develops in the wall.s

The coronary arteries are blood vessels that supply oxygen and blood to your heart.

Moreover, CAD develops when cholesterol buildups on the artery walls, thus, creating plaques.

These plaques cause the arteries to narrow, which in turn reduces the blood flow to your heart.

Or it can cause inflammation in and hardening of the walls of the blood vessels.

A clot, in some cases, obstructs blood flow, thus leading to serious health problems.

Coronary arteries form the network of blood vessels on the surface of the heart that feeds it oxygen.

However, if these arteries narrow, the heart may not receive oxygen-rich blood, especially during physical activity.

In some cases, CAD can also lead to a heart attack.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the most common type of heart disease in the United States.

It accounts for more than 655,000 deaths every year.

Causes of Coronary Artery Disease

The most common cause of CAD is a vascular injury with cholesterol plaque buildup in your arteries: Atherosclerosis.

Moreover, a reduction in blood flow occurs when one or more of the arteries become partially or completely blocked.

The four primary coronary arteries that are located on the surface of your heart are:

• right main coronary artery
• main coronary artery on the left
• left circumflex artery
• left anterior descending artery

These arteries are responsible for bringing oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the heart.

Your heart is a muscle that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a healthy heart moves approximately 3,000 gallons of blood through your body each day.

Just like any other organ or muscle, your heart must receive enough, dependable supply of blood to carry out this work.

However, a reduction in blood flow to your heart can cause symptoms of CAD.

Other rare causes of damage or blockage to the coronary artery can also limit blood flow to your heart.

Symptoms of Coronary Artery Disease

When your heart does not get enough arterial blood, you can experience a number of symptoms.

Angina or chest discomfort is the most common symptom of CAD, while some people may describe this discomfort as:

• chest pain
• heaviness
• tightness
• burning
• squeezing

It is important to note that these symptoms can also be mistaken for heartburn or indigestions.

While some other symptoms of CAd are a pain in the arms or shoulders, shortness of breath, sweating, and dizziness.

Moreover, you may also experience more symptoms when your blood flow is more restricted.

If a blockage cuts off blood flow completely or almost completely, the heart muscles will begin to die if not restored.

This is a heart attack.

Therefore, it is important to avoid ignoring any of the above symptoms, especially if they are excruciating or last longer than five minutes.

Immediate medical treatment or seek medical attention is necessary.

Symptoms of CAD for Women

It is important to note that women may also experience the above symptoms, however, they are most likely to have the following:

• nausea
• vomiting
• back pain
• jaw pain
• shortness of pain without feeling chest pain.

However, men have a higher risk of developing heart disease than premenopausal women.

Postmenopausal women by the age of 70 have the same risk as men.

Due to a decrease in blood flow, your heart may also become weak, develop abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmia or rate, or fail to pump as much blood as your body need.

Your doctor can help detect these heart abnormalities during diagnosis.

Risk Factors for CAD

Understanding the risk factors of CAD can help to prevent or decrease the likelihood of developing the disease.

Risk factors for developing this disease are:

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol levels
• tobacco smoking

• insulin resistance/hyperglycemia/diabetes Mellitus
• obesity
• inactivity
• unhealthy eating habits

Moreover, conditions like obstructive sleep apnea, emotional stress, excessive alcohol consumption, and a history of preeclampsia during pregnancy can increase the risk factors.

It is important to note that the risk of CAD increase with age.

Depending on age alone as a risk factor, men have a greater risk for the disease beginning at the age of 45.

While women have a greater risk of beginning this disease at the age of 55.

The risk of coronary artery disease is also higher if you have a family history of the disease.

Complications of Coronary Artery Disease

CAD can lead to:

Agina

When coronary arteries narrow down, the heart may not get enough blood when it needs it the most.

This can happen during exercise and can cause chest pain, angina, or shortness of breath.

Heart Attack

A heart attack can occur if a cholesterol plaque breaks open and causes a blood clot to form.

This clot can block blood flow and the lack of blood can damage the heart muscle.

Moreover, the amount of damage depends in part on how quickly you get treatment.

Heart Failure

Narrowed arteries in your heart or high blood pressure can slowly make your heart weak or stiff, so it is harder to pump blood.

Heart failure occurs when your heart does not pump blood as it should.

Irregular heart Rhythys or Arrhythmias

Not enough blood to the heart can alter normal heart signaling, causing irregular heartbeats.

Diagnosing Coronary Artery Disease

In order to diagnose CAD, your doctor will review your medical history, a physical examination, and order medical testing.

These tests are:

Electrocardiogram: This test will help to monitor electrical signals that travel through your heart.

It can also help your doctor to determine whether you have had a heart attack.

Echocardiogram: This imaging test uses ultrasound waves to create a picture of your heart.

Moreover, the results of this test reveal whether a certain thing in your heart is functioning properly or not.

Stress Test: With the help of this, your doctor can measure the stress on your heart during physical activity and while at rest.

Also, the tests help to monitor your heart’s electrical activity while you walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike.

Muscle imaging, on the other hand, is a test your doctor will perform for a portion of this test.

However, if you are unable to perform physical exercise, they can use certain medications instead of stress testing.

Cardiac Catheterization or Left Heart Catheterization: During this procedure, your doctor will inject a special dye into the coronary arteries through a catheter inserted through an artery in your groin or forearm.

This dye helps to enhance the radiographic image of your coronary arteries to identify any blockages.

Heart CT scan: Your doctor may use this imaging test to check for calcium deposits in your arteries.

Treatment Options

It is important to reduce or control the risk factors and seek treatment to lower the chance of heart attack or stroke if your doctor diagnoses you with CAD.

Treatment also depends on your current health condition, risk factors, and overall wellbeing.

For instance, your doctor may prescribe medication therapy to treat high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

Or you may receive medication to control blood sugar if you have diabetes.

Certain lifestyle changes can also help reduce the risk of heart diseases and stroke.

For instance, you can:

• quit smoking
• reduce or stop your consumption of alcohol;
• exercise regularly
• lose weight to a healthy level
• eat a healthy diet, that s low in saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar

However, if your condition does not improve with lifestyle changes and medications, your doctor may recommend a procedure to increase blood flow to your heart.

These procedures are:

Balloon Angioplasty

This will help to widen blocked arteries and smoosh down the plaque buildup.

Your doctor will perform this procedure with the insertion of a stent to help keep the lumen open after the procedure.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

With the help of this procedure, your doctor can help restore blood flow to the heart in open-chest surgery.

Enhanced External Counterpulsation

This will help to stimulate the formation of new small blood vessels to naturally bypass clogged arteries in a noninvasive procedure.

Medications for CAD

You can take medications to reduce the risk or impact of CAD. These are:

Beta-Blockers: Your doctor may prescribe beta-blockers to reduce blood pressure and heart rate, especially among people who already had a heart attack.

This will help to ‘rest’ the heart.

Nitrogen Glycerin Patches, Sprays, or Tablets: These will help to relax the arteries and reduce the demand of your heat for blood, as well as soothe chest pain.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors: These will bring down blood pressure and help slow or stop the progression of CAD.

Calcium Channel Blockers: These will widen the coronary arteries, which helps to improve blood flow to the heart and reduce hypertension.

Statins: According to a study, though taking statins cannot reduce the overall risk of death from CAD, it can prevent the development and reduce the risk of non-fatal heart attacks.

Current guidelines recommend that people with a history of heart attack, stroke, angina, or other cardiovascular events take aspirin.

This is because aspirin helps to prevent blood clots from forming on the plaque.

For those who have not had a heart attack, the use of aspirin is more controversial.

However, in general, doctors usually recommend aspirin if there is a high burden of plaque and a low risk of bleeding.

Moreover, doctors also recommend focuing on lifestlye strategies.

These are adopting a healthy diet and getting moderate to intense exercise. These strategies can also help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

Prevention Tips

Controlling your blood cholesterol levels can help to reduce your risk of CAD.

Moreover, to better control blood cholesterol levels you can consider:

• being more physically active
• limiting alcohol intake
• avoiding tobacco
• adopting a diet with less sugar, salt, and saturated fats

Final Thoughts

CAD develops when coronary arteries develop cholesterol deposits in their walls and the condition causes blockages in the arteries. These feed oxygen-rich blood to the heart, the arteries also stiffen, and inflammation increases.

Moreover, CAD can be difficult to treat and lead to heart attack and stroke. However, you can take steps to reduce your risk of CAD by getting regular exercise, adopting a healthy diet, and avoiding or quitting tobacco.

Make sure to seek immediate medical advice or attention if you have chest pain and breathlessness, as it could indicate a heart attack.