• Question: What treatments do we use for heart disease onw?

    Asked by annabelliz to Catherine, Del, John, Krishna, Mo Rassul on 10 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by katie44200, meathead, s12iteas, , , , , , , .
    • Photo: Adelle Thrower

      Adelle Thrower answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      To discuss treatments for heart disease (or any disease!) it is important to know the causes. Heart disease is caused by fatty deposits that build up in the walls of the arteries. This build up can restrict the flow of blood to the heart. The fatty deposits are created due to cholesterol so to avoid heart disease in the first place it’s good advice to eat a heathy diet and exercise.
      If an individual has heart disease then the first part of treatment is to change your lifestyle- stopping smoking, better diets, regular exercise. Medicinal treatments may include anti platelets that thin your blood (this makes it easier to flow with the fatty bits in the way) as well as prevent the blood from clotting- an example of this is Aspirin. Statins are used as a treatment to lower cholesterol in the blood- they block the formation of cholesterol and helps remove it from the blood- but nothing is a quick fix!
      Surgery may be a form of treatment to open up the blocked arteries (or even replace them). A procedure called angioplasty may take place- it’s basically putting a balloon in the blocked artery to inflate the blocked area outwards, then inserting a piece of metal (called a stent) to form a solid area to hold it open.
      If an artery is completely blocked then a bypass might be undertaken where a surgeon will re-route the blood flow away from the blocked area using a grafted new artery.
      In drastic circumstances a full heart transplant may be needed, but a suitable donor will be required and these are not easily come by so best to keep active and eat well!!

    • Photo: Catherine Mansfield

      Catherine Mansfield answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      This is a very good question and the answer depends on the type of heart disease. In addition to what Adelle has already mentioned other treatments also include:
      The fitting of a pacemaker if your heart is not beating at the correct rhythm/rate. The pacemaker sends an electrical signal to the heart controlling the rate at which it beats. Another treatment for this condition is called ‘ablation’ where the cells that are causing the wrong electrical signals are killed off which should return the heart to contracting at the correct rate.

    • Photo: Muhammed Rassul

      Muhammed Rassul answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      It does depend on what type you are talking about, different treatments include drugs to reduce clotting, diet, exercise, pacemakers and in some cases surgery

    • Photo: Krishna Mohan Surapaneni

      Krishna Mohan Surapaneni answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Your question is not in a specific context, in a broader context rather. Different treatments are available to different heart diseases that purely depends on the heart disease one is suffering from.

      For example if the heart becomes non functional, you need to go for HEART TRANSPLANTATION.

Comments

  • Photo: annabelliz

    annabelliz commented on :

    Thank you for that, my neighbor has recently been in and out of hospital with, what they think is, heart disease. I asked this question because i always find it useful to know about your surroundings and how people are being effected