What Is Angina? And What Is The Cure?
What is Angina? And What Is The Cure?
Angina refers to the pain arising from lack of adequate blood supply to the
heart muscle. Typically, it is a crushing pain behind the breastbone in the
center of the chest, brought on by exertion and relieved by rest. It may at
times radiate to or arise in the left arm, neck, jaw, left chest, or back. It
is frequently accompanied by sweating, palpitations of the heart, and generally
lasts a matter of minutes. Similar pain syndromes may be caused by other
diseases, including esophagitis, gall bladder disease, ulcers, and others.
Diagnosis of angina begins with the recognition of the consistent symptoms.
Often an exercise test with radioactive thallium is performed if the diagnosis
is in question, and sometimes even a cardiac catheterization is done if the
outcome is felt necessary to make management decisions. This is a complex area
which requires careful judgment by physician and patient.
Angina is a manifestation of coronary artery disease, the same disease
leading to heart attacks. Coronary artery diseas refers to those syndromes
caused by blockage to the flow of blood in those arteries supplying the heart
muscle itself, i.e., the coronary arteries.
Like any other organ, the heart requires a steady flow of oxygen and nutrients
to provide energy for rmovement, and to maintain the delicate balance of
chemicals which allow for the careful electrical rhythm control of the heart
beat. Unlike some other organs, the heart can survive only a matter of minutes
without these nutrients, and the rest of the body can survive only minutes
without the heart--thus the critical nature of these syndromes.
Causes of blockage range from congenital tissue strands within or over the
arteries to spasms of the muscular coat of the arteries themselves. By far the
most...
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