Coronary Artery Disease Ankara
The coronary artery disease is the primary of the most common heart diseases seen worldwide. Coronary vessels are the vessels that feed the heart muscle. These vessels surround the heart muscle and the constriction, occlusion or other diseases occurred in these vessels cause the heart muscle to lose its vitality and die. In this case, an inadequacy occurs in pumping the blood from the heart to the body in a healthy way. As a result, the complaints depending on quick fatigue and insufficient oxygen intake of the body happen. In case where it is not treated, the coronary artery disease can cause suffering permanent damage of the heart muscles and resulting in serious heart diseases by progressing widely. You can contact clinic of Prof Basri Amasyalı in Ankara and make an appointment to get detailed information about the coronary artery disease and its treatment.
What is Coronary Artery?
The “artery” is the vessels that carry the clean blood pumped by the heart to the body. It is also known as “arterial blood vessel”. In fact, the coronary arteries are the first two branches of the aorta, which is the thickest vessel in our body. They are the arteries that feed the heart muscle and carry oxygen, which has vital importance for the regular functioning of the heart, to the heart muscles. There are two coronary arteries. One of them is called the “right coronary artery” and feeds the right ventricle of the heart and the posterior and inferior sides of the left ventricle. The other is defined as the “left main coronary artery” and feeds a significant part of the left ventricle. This vessel divides into two branches as the “left anterior descending artery” and “left circumflex” artery. In case of occlusion of the coronary vessels, the situation what we call a heart attack develops. The heart attacks originating from the left main coronary vessel and its branches are more vital importance.
What are Coronary Artery Diseases?
As in other vessels in our body, occlusions and stenosis can be seen in the coronary artery. In a healthy person, the inner surface of the coronary artery is clean. Blood flows easily through the vessel. Thus, the heart muscle receives the oxygen it needs in sufficient amount and by means of this heart muscle; the clean blood coming from the lungs is pumped to our body. The increased need for oxygen and blood of the heart is also met by the relaxation of these coronary arteries and allowing greater amount of blood flow, even when the body is exercising and moving. The diameters of coronary vessels can increase up to 2 times and cardiac outflow can increase up to 6-7 times in athletes, according to the degree of the effort made during the sports.
If the coronary arteries are not healthy, the coronary vessels feeding the heart remain insufficient to provide the oxygen that the heart needs, when the body is active. As a result of this, the heart muscle cannot contract with sufficient force since it will be without oxygen, and in this case, the heart cannot adequately pump the blood that our body needs. When there is a problem in any place like a domino, this problem negatively affects all functions in the heart, one after the other. We can classify the coronary artery diseases threatening the heart health as follows:
Atherosclerosis in the Coronary Arteries
In the individuals having the coronary artery disease risk, atherosclerosis occurs first in the blood vessels. I will talk about these risk factors shortly. These negative effects being on the blood vessels for months and years lead to the significant progression in the degree of atherosclerosis of the vessel and ultimately to the severe stenosis of the vessel or sometimes to sudden occlusion. There are intensive plaques rich in terms of cholesterol in these atherosclerosis areas. The widespread vascular disease occurs with the progression of these plaques rich in terms of cholesterol. These plaques are called “atherosclerotic plaques” in medical language. This situation is accepted as the initial stage of the coronary artery diseases.
Coronary Artery Stenosis
The increases in the volume of the plaques in the coronary arteries cause significant stenosis in the vessel diameter in the following years. In this case, the blood flow in the vessel gradually slows down. The heart muscle cannot get the oxygen it needs. As a result, severe pains occur in the chest and daily movements can become quite difficult, depending on the degree of stenosis.
Coronary Artery Occlusion
It is the case of sudden occlusion of the coronary vessels. The complete sudden occlusion of the coronary vessels is the case of a person having a heart attack. This situation is called “myocardial infarction” in medical language. The occlusion of the coronary artery depends on a clot that suddenly occurs in the vessel. This clot most often develops on a preformed plaque that does not cause the significant coronary artery stenosis. However, even being rarely, a blood clot occurred elsewhere can cause sudden occlusion of the coronary vessel by entering into the coronary vessel due to the case that what we call “embolism”. As a result, severe damage occurs in the heart muscle that is fed by the coronary vessels after being without oxygen.
Who Gets Coronary Artery Disease?
The coronary artery diseases usually show up in the people aged 40 and over. The probability of being seen in men is 3-4 times more than in women. Especially, the people having a family history of the coronary artery disease are accepted in the risky group. It is known that the estrogen hormone has a protective role from the coronary diseases. Therefore, the coronary artery disease is more common seen in the women after menopause period.
Risk factors causing the coronary artery disease:
Apart from age, gender and genetic factors; the most important factor in the formation of the coronary artery disease is the wrong nutrition and harmful habits. Smoking is a major trigger for the emergence of the coronary artery disease. Being fed with too much fat and less mobility also cause cholesterol to rise. As the cholesterol rises, the risk of formation of a fat layer that we call “atherosclerotic plaque” inside the coronary vessels increases and the coronary vessels can fur up over time.
Ankara Coronary Artery Disease Treatment
The coronary artery disease symptoms;
- Fatigue quickly
- Chest, back and arm pains that limit movement
- Shortness of breath
- Palpitation
The chest pain is the most typical symptom of the coronary artery disease. These symptoms cannot distinguish themselves for many years. Especially, the people who do not do sports do not have any complaints until the last moment. Unfortunately, the first sign of the coronary artery disease in such patients can be a heart attack. For this reason, we should have our heart checked at regular intervals, especially after the age of 35-40.
In case where the patient applies the doctor with these complaints, the coronary vessels are required to be examined in detail with the ECG and other examinations (see coronary angiography section). As a result of the examinations made, the appropriate treatment is planned, by taking the stage of the disease and the patient’s history into account. Diet, lifestyle change, giving up bad habits, regular exercise, drug therapy, angio-stent procedures and bypass operations performed in some patients with open heart surgery are the main treatment stages of the coronary artery disease. You can contact our clinic in Ankara to get detailed information about the treatment of the coronary artery disease.