subject: Heart- Diseases And Treatments [print this page] When blood flows through the heart, it exerts some pressure on the walls of the blood vessels. This is known as blood pressure. If the force exerted by the blood on the walls of blood vessels changes it may create problems. The reason behind this is the deposition of cholesterol in the walls of blood vessels. Cholesterol is produced in the body and it is the combination of fats and steroid. About 80% of cholesterol is made in the body and the rest 20% we get from our diet. The food products like meat, chicken, fish and dairy products provide cholesterol. There are two types of cholesterol i.e. low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL).
The HDL is the good cholesterol whereas the LDL is the bad cholesterol. The LDL can flow through the blood vessels easily. This LDL gets deposited on the blood vessels and makes them harder. Because of this the blood vessels become narrow and the blood flow get reduced or blocked. This also one of the causes of high blood pressure or hypertension. The blood supplies oxygen to the heart and if the blood vessels get narrowed then the oxygen supply is cut off resulting in the heart attack. The symptoms of heart attacks are pain in the chest spreading to the arms, shortness of breath, anxiety , nervousness, sweaty skin, and irregular heartbeats.
The LDL i.e. bad cholesterol can freely move along with the blood to any part of the body. This can also blockage the blood supply to brain which leads to a very serious condition called as stroke. There are other disease of heart too which include atherosclerosis, coronary, congenital, myocarditis and angina. The treatment of , heart disease starts with its prevention. These preventive measures include no smoking or drinking frequently, regular exercise, a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight. The treatments for the heart diseases like heart attack, heart failure and abnormal beating of heart requires emergency medical help. The treatments include supply of oxygen to the heart tissue, medications, electrical defibrillation in abnormal heart beat. Surgery called as angioplasty is also done in some patients. There is one more surgery is performed known as coronary artery bypass.
