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Angina: Frequently Asked Questions

What is angina?

Angina pectoris is the medical term for chest pain due to a coronary heart condition known as a myocardial ischemia, in which the heart muscle doesn't receive enough blood for a given level of activity, resulting in pain in the chest.
Angina refers to symptoms such as chest pain or discomfort caused by reduced blood flow to the heart. It is often the first sign of heart disease. The heart is a muscle that gets blood flow from the coronary arteries. If your coronary arteries have a blockage or narrowing that reduces blood flow to the heart, you may experience angina. People with angina usually feel discomfort (often pressure-like pain) in or around the chest, shoulders, back, neck, jaw or arms. It may feel like a squeezing pressing sensation. ...
Source: www.kten.com
Angina literally means "strangling in the chest". It is the most common symptom of coronary artery disease, which occurs when vessels that carry blood to the heart muscle become narrowed and blocked by deposits of calcified fatty tissue (atheroma). Angina restricts the activities of many patients. They are able alcohol, and cigarette smoking. Doctors recommend controlling the risk factors that contribute to underlying coronary artery disease. ...
When the demand for oxygen increases, during exercise for example, and the narrowed coronary vessels restrict blood flow, pain fibers in the heart are stimulated. This pattern of crushing chest pain, often radiating to the left arm, is called angina pectoris . If angina cannot be controlled with cardiac medications, a procedure called a balloon angioplasty may be successful in relieving it. Notes: Include a link to this frame on your Personal Thumbnails page? Yes No Informed Patient's FAQ on Coronary Artery Disease: 14

What exactly is angina?

Angina means pain or discomfort, coming from the heart, generally due to blocked arteries, and usually occurring with exertion. Not all chest pain is angina, and not all people with blocked arteries have pain.

How is angina treated?

Lifestyle changes and medications are the most common ways to treat stable angina. Risk factor modification such as lowering your blood pressure, losing excess weight, quitting smoking, exercising, lowering high blood cholesterol and managing stress will help make you more comfortable and may reduce angina symptoms. Your doctor may also prescribe drugs to control your angina. Nitroglyerine is a common one used. It relieves pain by relaxing blood vessels and allowing more blood flow to the heart.
Source: www.kten.com
Angina is usually controlled by medications that either increase the supply of oxygen to the heart muscle by dilating coronary vessels, or decrease demand for oxygen by slowing the heart rate or decreasing the intensity of contraction. In some patients, however, medication becomes insufficiently effective over time.

What is stable angina?

Stable angina is typically triggered by physical activity that increases the heart's demand for oxygen. This type of angina is usually relieved by rest or medication (nitroglycerin tablets). Stable angina usually does not last longer than a few minutes. It is often predictable, and typically does not require hospitalization.
Source: www.sjm.com

What is unstable angina?

Unstable angina refers to an increase in the number, severity or duration in episodes of angina within the previous two months. It may also include a new episode within the past month brought on by physical activity or occurring at rest. Unstable angina is frightening and disabling and can lead to a heart attack. With unstable angina, the pain is more intense, lasts longer, is brought on by less effort, occurs at rest, is progressive, or can demonstrate any combination of these factors. ...
Source: www.sjm.com

WHAT IS ANGINA PECTORIS?

Angina pectoris means chest pain of a specific nature caused by lack of oxygen supply to the heart. This is usually due to atherosclerosis (see above) of the coronary arteries. It is more likely to happen when the heart requires more blood and oxygen, e.g. during exercise or emotional upset.
Angina pectoris is the first signal of a cardiovascular disorder following coronary artery disease (inadequate coronary circulation) due to narrowing of a coronary artery.
Angina pectoris refers to chest pain caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle. Angina occurs because of disease of the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply the heart with blood), causing heart ischemia.

What is an angina attack?

Angina is a lack of blood and therefore oxygen to the heart muscle that does not cause damage. It may be a warning of a future heart attack.

What causes Angina?

Angina signals that a part of the heart muscle is not receiving an adequate supply of blood and oxygen. The heart requires a particularly rich blood supply because of its heavy workload, and receives this nourishing blood supply through the coronary arteries. When narrowed or blocked arteries restrict blood flow, oxygen supply to portions of the heart may at times be insufficient. ...
Angina (pronounced an-JIGH-nuh or AN-juh-nuh) occurs when the vessels that supply blood to the heart are blocked or damaged and cannot deliver an adequate amount of oxygen to the heart. The result is chest pain, which can range from moderate to severe.

Is angina life-threatening?

Angina signals heart disease, the number one killer. Two to four percent of people with angina die from heart disease. Nearly seven million people in the United States suffer with angina pectoris. An estimated 350,000 new cases occur each year. Of this number, approximately one million will have invasive procedures; six million patients who are maintained on drug therapy live in varying degrees of discomfort. Angina is frequently crippling and disabling; patients are unable to live normal lives.
Angina signals heart disease, the number one killer in the industrialized world. Two to four percent of people with angina die from heart disease. More than 7 million people in the United States suffer with angina. An estimated 350,000 new cases occur each year. Of this number, approximately 1 million will have invasive procedures; 6 million patients who are maintained on drug therapy live in varying degrees of discomfort. Angina is frequently crippling and disabling; patients are often unable to maintain their lifestyles.

What is recurrent angina?

Patients with recurrent angina have predictable chest pain or other angina symptoms despite taking medications to help control their angina or angioplasty/coronary bypass surgery procedures.

What is the prognosis for Prinzmetal's angina?

Nonfatal heart attacks occur in 20% of patients. Fatal hearth attacks occur in 5-10% of patients. Patients with Prinzmetal's angina usually have a 6 month window of multiple artery spasms, which then slowly tapers off in frequency. Long term survival ranges from 90-95%.

What is Prinzmetal's angina?

Prinzmetal's angina (also called variant angina pectoris) occurs when a person is at rest. In contrast to regular angina, Prinzmetal's angina occurs primarily at night during sleep, and is not assocaited with exercise or stress. What is the significance of Prinzmetal's angina Prinzmetal's angina is a risk factor for myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death.

How is Prinzmetal's angina diagnosed?

The ergovine test is a provocative test to see if someone is at risk for having coronary spasms.

What causes Prinzmetal's angina?

Prinzmetal's angina is caused by coronary artery spasm. The spasms usually occur in vessels that have severe coronary atherosclerosis. The spasms are located near the areas of coronary artery obstruction.

How is Angina avoided ?

Doctors recommend controlling the risk factors that contribute to underlying coronary artery disease. These risk factors include high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, and obesity. Doctors recommend controlling the risk factors that contribute to underlying coronary artery disease. These risk factors include high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, and obesity.

How can angina be avoided?

Doctors recommend controlling the risk factors that contribute to the underlying coronary artery disease, namely high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, and obesity.

Is intestinal angina related to PXE?

Intestinal angina is a known and described complication of PXE. This is a rare condition that, depending on the location and extent of arterial narrowing, may be treated with balloon angioplasty or surgery. Usually an angiogram is used to diagnose this condition and plan appropriate treatment, which is usually coordinated among gastroenterologist, surgeon, and interventional radiologist.
Source: www.pxe.org

How do nitroglycerin pills stop angina?

Nitroglycerin tablets are "vasodilators" - that is, they increase the diameter of the arteries, improving blood flow to the heart and the rest of the body. They also dilate (open up) the veins and temporarily decrease the return of blood to the heart, and this eases the workload of the heart. Once enough blood returns to the heart muscle, angina symptoms stop. The heart's workload also becomes easier, since it can pump blood without as much resistance from narrow blood vessels.

What does "unstable" angina mean?

"Unstable" angina is a form of angina that is much more serious than stable angina. Unstable angina occurs when a person is resting, asleep, or undergoes physical exertion. Severe discomfort may come on suddenly in someone who has never had angina before. Attacks may intensify or happen more often. Unstable angina is caused by blood clots that form around damaged plaque (fatty deposit) within a coronary artery. Sometimes the clot washes away after the damage has healed. ...

Is angina more common in men or women?

Angina occurs more frequently in women than in men. If left untreated angina may cause heart attack and heart muscle damage.

Do you cover angina?

Angina must be risk assessed for all destinations. If any of the conditions listed in the medical declaration on our web site apply to you, we recommend that you call one of our advisors.

How is the pain of angina pectoris described?

The pain is described according to various symptoms. The most common are sense of pressure, pressing, constriction, squeezing or expansion of the chest; burning or pain. Other signals can be sweating and a bluish skin color; shortness of breath; nausea or vomiting or a sensation of unprovoked anxiety. The pain can radiate up to the neck and jaw or down along the left arm. ...
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