Heart Disease

Go through the doddle presentation on heart disease. Pages 56-59 will also be helpful
here.

● What does CHD mean?

Coronary Heart Disease

● What is the role of the coronary arteries?

They take blood and oxygen to the heart

● What is atheroma? A diagram would be useful here.

Atheroma is the buildup of fat/cholesterol in the blood vessels

● Atheroma can narrow the coronary arteries, and make the inner lining rough
● This can interrupt the supply of O2 to your heart and cause pain/a heart attack.
● It can also result in the formation of a clot, or thrombus
● If a coronary artery is blocked, a heart attack will result.
● Atheroma can also weaken the wall of an artery causing an aneurysm. This can be fatal.

● What is a stent? Explain-again, a diagram would be useful

here. Comment on the issue of blood clotting.
A stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the artery and keeps the artery
open. There is a risk of blood clotting with stents or infection from surgery.

● What can be done about leaky heart valves? Explain the pros and cons of each
procedure. (it is worth noting that in the doddle, rejection is mentioned in the information
on biological replacement valves. There are a number of different kinds, but generally
this is no longer a problem. We will discuss this in class)
If the heart valves become leaky then they can either be replaced with an animal valve or a mechanical one
 Pros Cons

Animal Valve - Prevent blood clots - Only last around 15

- The patients don't have years
to take blood thinners
for very long

Mechanical Valve - Last much longer than
biological valves
- More common option
- Excellent blood flow
performance
- The patient would have
to take life long blood
thinners
- More risk of clotting

● What are the main risk factors associated with heart disease?
- Smoking
- High Colestorol

● Where in the body is cholesterol produced? High Cholesterol production is linked to a

high intake of saturated fat in the diet. How can statins help to combat the build-up of
cholesterol in arteries?
Cholesterol is produces in the liver. Statins stop the production of cholesterol by blocking the enzyme that
produces it

● When might an artificial heart be used?

Artificial Hearts may be used if someones heart has failed and they are waiting for a transplant. Artificial
hearts are good options because there is less chance of rejection than in a donor heart
● What controls the natural resting heart rate? What can be done if this is not
working properly?
The pacemaker controls/regulates the resting heart rate. If the pacemaker cells stop working then
an artificial pacemaker will placed in the heart to regulate the heart rate.