There is a risk of acute heart failure from plague accumulation in the coronary artery

The symptoms of this disease include shooting pain toward the left shoulder and left arm, with some cases experiencing shooting pain up toward the neck. Pain symptoms occur more intensely after an exertion but improve after resting, and in cases where the coronary arteries have become narrowed to the point of obstruction, severe and acute myocardial ischemia can occur, leading to myocardial infarction. There will be severe chest pain along with agitation, sweating and chills. If the patient is not quickly delivered to the hospital, they can be dead.

 

Calcium or plaque in the heart can cling to the arterial walls, cardiac valves and pericardium tissues. What should be watched out for in particular is plaque accumulation on the walls of arteries supplying blood to the cardiac muscles. The accumulation is caused by degeneration of the arteries and will develop many years before heart disease, especially people with chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Otherwise, it can occur in smokers. This calcium accumulation in the arteries increases risk of acute myocardial infarction due to acute coronary artery obstruction. There might be no chest pain or tightness, but the symptoms of heart failure will present themselves, such as fatigue, and some cases might arrive to the hospital with cardiac arrest.

 

1. People with family history of coronary artery disease.

2. Ordinary patients who are older than 45 years.

3. Patients who have moderate risk of developing heart disease.

4. Patients with diabetes or kidney failure.

5. People with abnormal blood cholesterol levels.

 

It does not take a long time to test the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries. Doctors will use a high-speed computer x-ray machine to perform a 256-slice CT test. Although this method does not require a dye to be injected into the heart, the pictures obtained remain sharp due to the machine having a high image capture resolution. As a result, it can effectively capture the image of the heart while it is beating. This data can be used to compute the amount of calcium accumulation in the arterial walls, which can be used to determine the likelihood of coronary artery disease before acute myocardial infarction occurs due to acute coronary artery thrombosis, which leads to a high risk of death in the patient.

 

Prevention is better than treatment! Regardless of how high or low our risk is, if we consistently care for our bodies by, for example, exercising, refraining from smoking and resting sufficiently while staying away from spicy foods, especially if you have a chronic disease like diabetes or hypertension, which require you to strictly modify your behaviors and care for yourself, you can keep yourself far away from the disease in the future.