Chest pain: the most common symptom of coronary artery disease

Chest pain may be the first sign of coronary artery disease that, if not treated early, could put you at high risk of death from its complications.

Coronary arteries

Coronary arteries are arterial branches to supply blood and oxigen to the heart muscle.

What is coronary artery disease?

Coronary artery disease is commonly concerned with obstructions  in the coronary arteries (due to atherosclerotic plaque that causes a narrowing of the artery or blood clot formation that occludes the artery) or coronary artery spasms.

Chest pain: you should know that the heart muscle is very sensitive to lack of blood supply. Even a lack of small amount of blood may make you pain and this lossed blood amount to the muscle in a short period may cause necrosis.

Pain at rest occurs when there is a obstruction in the coronary artery that can result in a heart attack.

And the pain blamed for narrowed coronary artery develops on exertion because the heart must accordingly work harder to pump blood and oxygen to the muscles that require it.

Common cause of myocardial ischemia

Myocardial ischemia is usually the outcome of atherosclerosis occuring when cholesterol deposits accumulate in the wall of arteries (plagues) and narrow the inner of the artery.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors

These include high blood pressure, lipid disorder (high LDL, low HDL, high triglyceride), smoking,  obesity, diabete, family history of early coronary artery disease, aging (after 40 – 50 years old), etc.

Left side chest pain: what to be done

Don’t miss any sign of pain on the left side of your chest. Please go to see a cardiologist, especially if you are at high risk. You may be asked to do some blood tests and examinations such as ECG stress test,  echocardiography, CT angiogram, coronarography.

You are obliged to obey strickly the treatment plan recommended by the doctor. And life style changes are necessary: smoking cessasion, weight management, diabete management, exercises, lower high blood pressure, stress reduction, etc.

If the condition becomes worse cardiac intervention can be needed.

It should be noted that:

Not all people with coronary artery disease have explicit pain notification on the left side of the chest. In some cases, only stinging or mild pain sessation can be felt. Several people who really have myocardial ischemia have no signs or symptoms, a condition called silent ischemia. This type of coronary disease is of the most concern because it can cause death if not prevented.

For this reason, coronary artery disease in any form should never be ignored. Please pay attention to chest pain spasms, particularly if you are in high risk groups such as the elderly, smokers, alcohol addicted people, people with obesity, family history of CAD or those with high blood pressure, etc).

Primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease enables us to help you have a healthy heart.

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