Cardiovascular Disease Flashcards
(36 cards)
What is cardiovascular disease?
Cardiovascular disease is a term used to describe diseases of the heart or blood vessels
Give an example of a cardiovascular disease.
Coronary heart disease
What is coronary heart disease?
Coronary heart disease is when the coronary arteries, that supply the blood to the muscle of the heart, get blocked by layers of fatty material building up
If the coronary arteries get blocked, what affect does it have on the body?
If the coronary arteries get blocked, it causes the arteries to become narrow, so blood flow is restricted and there is a lack of oxygen to the heart muscle. This can result in a heart attack.
How can you avoid the risk of coronary heart disease?
Stents and statins
What are stents?
Stents are tubes that are inserted inside arteries.
What do stents do?
They keep the arteries open, making sure blood can pass through to the heart muscles. This keeps the person’s heart beating.
How long are stents effective for?
A long amount of time.
Is the recovery of stents short term or long term?
Short term. This is an advantage.
What are risks that could occur during the stent surgery?
A heart attack or infection from the surgery, and thrombosis.
What is thrombosis?
A blood clot developing near a stent
What do statins do?
Statins reduce the cholesterol levels in the blood.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is and essential lipid that the body produces and it needs it to function properly.
What is the type of cholesterol that if you have too much of, it causes health problems.
Bad cholesterol/ LDL cholesterol
What does having too much LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream cause?
Too much LDL cholesterol can cause fatty deposits to form inside arteries, which can lead to coronary heart disease.
What are statins?
Statins are drugs that can reduce the amount of LDL cholesterol present in the bloodstream. This slows down the rate of fatty deposits forming.
What are the advantages of statins?
1) By reducing the amount of LDL cholesterol in the blood, statins can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks.
2) As well as reducing the amount of LDL cholesterol, statins can increase the amount of a beneficial type of cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) in your bloodstream. HDL cholesterol can remove LDL cholesterol from the blood.
3) some studies say that statins may also help prevent other diseases.
What are the disadvantages of statins?
1) Statins are a long term drug that must be taken regularly. There is a risk that the person could forget to take them.
2) Statins can sometimes cause negative side effects (e.g. headaches). Some of these side effects can be serious (e.g. kidney failure, liver damage, and memory loss)
3) the effect of statins isn’t instant. It takes time for their effect to kick in.
Can an artificial heart pump blood around the body?
Yes
What will doctors do if a patient has heart failure?
If a patient has heart failure, doctors may perform a heart transplant (or heart and lungs transplant if lungs are also diseased) using donor organs from people who have recently died.
What happens if a patient has heart failure, and there aren’t any donor organs available?
Doctors may fit an artificial heart.
What are artificial hearts?
Artificial hearts are mechanical devices that pump blood for a person whose own heart has failed.
Are artificial hearts used as a temporary or permanent fix?
They are usually used as a temporary fix, to keep a person alive until a donor heart can be found. In some cases, they are used as a permanent fix, which reduces the need for a donor heart.
What is an advantage of an artificial heart?
Artificial hearts are less likely to be rejected by the body’s immune system than a donor heart. This is because they are made from metals or plastics, so the body doesn’t recognise them as an attack.
