2.17 Cardiovascular Disease Flashcards
What are Cardiovascular Diseases?
Diseases to do with your heart and blood vessels
What are 4 examples of cardiovascular diseases?
- Coronary heart diseases
- Heart attacks
- Faulty heart valves
- Heart failure
Describe how atheromas are formed
High blood pressure and lots of LDL cholesterol can lead to the build up of fatty deposits inside arteries, narrowing them. Over time the fatty deposits harden, forming atheromas.
Describe what coronary heart disease is
High blood pressure and lots of LDL cholesterol can lead to the build up of fatty deposits inside arteries, narrowing the lumen, so less blood can flow through them. Coronary heart disease is when the arteries that supply the heart muscles with blood (coronary arteries) have lots of atheromas in them which restricts blood flow to the heart.
Describe how blood clots can be formed
Sometimes bits of atheromas can break off or damage the blood vessel, causing a blood clot.
Describe how heart attacks occur
Sometimes bits of atheromas can break off or damage the blood vessel, causing a blood clot. Complete blockage of an artery by atheromas or blood clots can lead to a heart attack, where part of the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen.
Describe how strokes occur
High blood pressure and lots of LDL cholesterol can lead to the build up of fatty deposits inside arteries, narrowing them. Over time the fatty deposits harden, forming atheromas. Sometimes bits of atheromas can break off or damage the blood vessel, causing a blood clot. Complete blockage of an artery by atheromas or blood clots can lead to a stroke if the blockage occurs in the brain.
Describe how a healthy lifestyle can treat CVD (2)
- Making changes to your lifestyle, such as eating a healthy diet that is low in saturated fat, reducing stress, exercising regularly and quitting smoking, can reduce the risk of developing CVD in the first place - which avoids the complications of treating it after it has already developed.
- However, if even if you’ve already had problems, e.g. a heart attack, having a healthy lifestyle can still help. Lifestyle changes can also help other forms of treatment be more effective.
Describe how medicine can be used to treat CVD (3)
Sometimes medicines are needed to help control the effects of CVD. For example
- Statins can reduce the amount of cholesterol present in the bloodstream, which can slow down the rate of fatty deposits forming. However, statins can sometimes cause serious side effects, e.g. kidney failure, liver damage, and memory problems.
- Anticoagulants are drugs which make blood clots less likely to form. However, this can cause excessive bleeding if the person is hurt.
- Antihypertensives reduce blood pressure. This reduces the risk of atheromas and blood clots forming. Their side effects can include headaches or fainting.
Describe how surgery can be used to treat CVD (3)
If the heart or blood vessels are too badly damaged then surgery may be needed.
- Stents are tubes that are inserted inside arteries. They keep them open, making sure blood can pass through to the cardiac muscle, lowering the risk of heart attack. But over time, the artery can narrow again as stents can irritate the artery and make scar tissue grow.
- Coronary bypass surgery: If part of a blood vessel is blocked, a piece of healthy vessel taken from elsewhere can be used to bypass the blocked section.
- The whole heart can be replaced with a donor heart (a heart donated after a person has died). However, the new heart does not always start pumping properly. The new heart can also be rejected because the body’s immune system recognises it as ‘foreign’.
Heart surgery is a major procedure and, as will all surgeries, there is risk of bleeding, clots and infection.
What are the benefits of stents in heart surgery when treating CVD? (2)
- Surgery is quick
- Last a long time
What are the issues of stents in heart surgery when treating CVD? (2)
- Surgery has risks. For example, the surgery could induce a heart attack or lead to an infection.
- There is a small risk of the patient developing a blood clot near the stent. This is called thrombosis.
What is cholesterol?
A type of lipid that we all need in order to be healthy. However it comes in 2 forms; LDL (Bad) and HDL (HDL).
What do statins do?
They decrease the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood (LDL) and increase the good type (HDL), slowing down the rate of fatty deposits forming.
What are the downsides of statins? (5)
- Have to be taken regularly for years
- Kidney failure
- Headaches
- Memory problems
- Liver damage
