Atherosclerosis

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart. The CHD is also called coronary artery disease.
Treatment
The doctor may prescribe one or more medicines to treat blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol levels. Carefully follow the doctor's recommendations to prevent a worsening of coronary artery disease.
The goals of treatment of these diseases in patients with coronary artery disease:
Blood pressure less than or equal to 140/90 (or less for some patients with diabetes, renal disease or heart failure)
Levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) less than or equal to 7% for people with diabetes
LDL cholesterol level exceeding 100 mg / dL (or less for some patients)
Treatment depends on their symptoms and disease severity. The doctor may prescribe one or more medicines to treat CHD, including:
Inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors to lower blood pressure and protect heart and kidneys
Aspirin with or without clopidogrel (Plavix) or prasugrel (Effient) to prevent clot formation in the arteries
Beta-blockers reduce the heart rate, lower blood pressure and oxygen consumption by the heart
Calcium channel blockers relaxing arteries, lower blood pressure and reduce stress on the heart
Diuretics to lower blood pressure and treat heart failure
Nitrates (such as nitroglycerin) to relieve chest pain and improve blood flow to the heart
Statins to lower cholesterol
NEVER STOP SUDDENLY THE USE OF ANY OF THESE DRUGS. Always talk with your doctor first. The sudden discontinuation of these drugs may worsen angina or cause a heart attack.
The doctor may refer you to a cardiac rehabilitation program to improve the conditioning of your heart.
The procedures and surgeries used to treat coronary heart disease include:
Angioplasty and stent placement, called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
Bypass
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery
Have a healthy lifestyle
Some of the risk factors for heart disease that you CAN change are:
Do not smoke or use tobacco.
Make enough exercise at least 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days a week (talk to your doctor first).
Maintain a healthy weight. Men and women must seek to maintain a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9.
Making tests and treatment for depression.
Women who belong to the highest risk for heart disease should ingest supplements with omega 3 fatty acids.
If you consume alcohol, limit yourself to drink no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men.
Nutrition is important for your heart health and help control some of the risk factors for heart disease. See also: Heart Diseases and Diet
Choose a diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Choose lean proteins like chicken, fish, beans and vegetables.
Consume semidesnatados dairy like milk and yogurt.
Avoid sodium (salt) and fats found in fried foods, processed foods and baked goods.
Eat less animal products that contain cheese, cream or eggs.
Read labels and stay away from "saturated fat" and anything containing fat "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated". These products are often loaded with harmful fats.
Symptoms
Symptoms may be fairly obvious, but in some cases you may have the disease and not show any symptoms.
Chest pain or discomfort (angina) is the most common symptom. You feel this pain when the heart is not getting enough blood or oxygen. The degree of pain varies with each person.
It can be intense or like someone crushing your heart. This pain is felt below the chest bone (sternum), and also in the neck, arms, belly and upper back.
It usually occurs during an activity or emotional moment and disappears when the person rests or takes a medicine called nitroglycerin.
Other symptoms include shortness of breath and fatigue when the individual performs activities (effort).
Women, the elderly and individuals with diabetes are more likely to have symptoms of chest pain as well as:
Fatigue
Shortness of breath
Weakness

Arteriosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a disease that leads to hardening and weakening of closing blood vessels. It occurs due to a deposit of fat in these vessels.
The disease can affect any blood vessel, with the most frequent: the aorta (main vessel of the human body), coronary arteries (those that supply the heart), cerebral arteries (those supplying the brain) and peripheral arteries (those that supply arms and legs).
Atherosclerosis is characterized by the lack of flexibility of the arteries (large caliber veins that carry blood from the heart to the organs) resulting from the thickening and hardening of the walls in certain areas of the body. It is more common in men and the elderly.
It is pathologically classified into 3 types: focal calcifying atherosclerosis (Monkberg sclerosis), arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is the most common reaches arteries of large and medium caliber, triggered by the accumulation of fat, calcium and other substances in the inner walls of the arteries. The area where accumulation is called plaque. This reduces the caliber of the artery causing decrease in the amount of blood that can pass and consequent increased demand on the heart to pump. This effort leads to systolic hypertension.

The inner surface is smooth artery. With atherosclerosis becomes irregular, which constitutes an obstacle to movement and facilitates the formation of blood clots (thrombi) in place of all or part clogging plate artery preventing or reducing the passage of blood.

The thrombi formed on the plate and become loose in the brain causing cerebral thrombosis or an embolism, if the heart causing a heart attack but if a limb (leg) the patient limping (lame). If the obstruction is total leg, the blood does not pass and causes gangrene. The severity of the disease and therefore depend on where occurred.
Prevention and Treatment
To prevent atherosclerosis, should be eliminated controllable risk factors: high blood levels of cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, obesity and lack of exercise. Therefore, depending on risk factors particular to a subject, the prevention can consist in reducing cholesterol level, in blood pressure reduction in smoking cessation, weight loss and at the beginning of an exercise program. Fortunately, the institution of measures to achieve some of these goals just helping others achieve.
For example, the beginning of an exercise program helps the individual to lose weight, which in turn helps to reduce the cholesterol level and blood pressure. Stopping smoking also helps lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure. For individuals who already have an elevated risk of heart disease, smoking is particularly dangerous, because smoking decreases the level of good cholesterol (cholesterol bound to high density lipoprotein or HDL-cholesterol) and increases the level of bad cholesterol (cholesterol bound the low-density lipoprotein or LDL-cholesterol).
Smoking also increases the level of carbon monoxide in the blood, which increases the risk of injury of the coating from the arterial wall and smoke constricts arteries already narrowed by atherosclerosis, further compromising the volume of blood that reaches the tissues. Furthermore, smoking increases the tendency of blood to clot and thereby increase the risk of peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease, stroke and obstruction of an arterial graft after surgery. The risk of coronary artery disease in smokers is directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked nightly individuals who stop smoking have a 50% reduction in risk compared to those who continue to do so regardless of the time period they smoked . Smoking cessation also reduces the risk of death after CABG (bypass) or after a myocardial infarction. In addition, smoking cessation decreases the incidence of disease and risk of death in individuals with atherosclerosis in arteries other than those supplying the heart and cérebro.Em summary, the best treatment for atherosclerosis is prevention. When atherosclerosis becomes severe enough to cause complications, the physician should treat complications - angina, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke or blockage of peripheral arteries.

Hypertension

Hypertension is one of the most common medical problems of the world population. It's very serious, because it is silent and only recognized by lesions of the organs affected. It is a vascular disease of the whole body and leaves "marks" in the affected organs: heart, brain, kidneys, blood vessels and vision.
Treatment
There are two forms of treatment: with and without drugs.
Treatment without medication is intended to assist in lowering blood pressure, and if possible avoid the complications and risks through changes in attitudes and ways of living, they are:
 
 Reduce body weight through diet caloric controlled: replace animal fats of vegetable oils, sugars decreasing and increasing fiber intake
 Reduce salt, sausages, canned, preserved, cod, beef jerky and salted cheeses
 Reduce alcohol consumption
 Exercise regularly 30-45 minutes, three to five times per week
 Quitting smoking
 Monitor changes in blood fats (dislipemias), avoiding foods that increase triglycerides as sugars, honey, molasses, brown sugar, alcohol and high in cholesterol or saturated fat: lard, bacon, whole milk, butter, cream, sausage, salami, ham, fried foods, seafood, offal, chicken skin, tripe, calf's foot jelly, egg yolk, meat fat, palm oil, cashew, peanuts, chocolate and ice cream
 Manage stress
 Reducing salt is very important for hypertensive black race, because in them is more severe hypertension and cardiovascular causes more accidents, requiring constant and periodic medical controls
 Avoid drugs that increase blood pressure contraceptives, anti-inflammatory, appetite suppressants, decongestants, antidepressants, corticosteroids, ergotamine derivatives, stimulants (amphetamines), caffeine, cocaine and others.
Drug treatment is aimed at reducing cardiovascular disease and mortality in hypertensive patients. So far, reduction of disease and mortality in patients with mild to moderate hypertension has been convincingly demonstrated using routine medications on the market. In severe hypertension and / or malignant, the therapeutic difficulties are far greater. The correct choice of drug to treat hypertension is a task of the physician.
In primary or essential hypertension, treatment is nonspecific and requires special attention from the physician. Secondary hypertension is specific treatment, e.g., surgery in the tumors of the adrenal gland or drugs in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
Drug treatment should observe the following principles:
 
 The drug should be effective orally and well tolerated
 Should allow fewer daily doses
 The treatment should be initiated at lower doses if necessary and possible increased gradually or in conjunction with others with minimal complications
 The drug must have cost compatible with the socioeconomic conditions of the patient to allow continuity of care
 The most serious problem in the drug therapy of hypertension is that it may be necessary for life. By then the conviction of the need for treatment is very important for the patient to have a permanent adhesion
 The controls should be medical journals for the correctness of drug dosages and monitor the development of cardiovascular disease
Prevention
Avoid standing still, walk more, climb stairs instead of the elevator
Please leave or consumption of alcoholic beverages
Try to take the problems of everyday life in a more peaceful
Maintain a healthy weight: consult a health care professional and ask for guidance as to its power
Attend to queries regularly
Do not abandon treatment
Take the medication as directed medical
Eat a healthy diet
Please salt the food.

AVC

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or stroke is a brain injury caused by a vascular damage that can be divided into 2 types:
Ischemic stroke (AIS) is a brain injury caused by lack of blood circulation in a given region, due to the blockage of an artery.
It is the most common type, accounting for about 80% of stroke cases.
The AVCI can be divided into:
 Lacunar ischemic stroke: an ischemic lesion is (generally less than 0.7 cm) caused by occlusion of small vessels. It is a common type of stroke in smokers;
 Atherosclerotic ischemic stroke: can vary in length depending on the size of the artery with atheromatous plaque (fat accumulation in the vessel wall), which causes obstruction of the same. Usually is associated with obstruction of the carotid
Embolic ischemic stroke: is caused by obstruction of the cerebral arteries by emboli (blood clots in small fragments that float through movement and stop in place less than them). It is common in patients with heart problems such as heart arrhythmias and dilated.
Hemorrhagic stroke (CVA) is a bleeding in the brain due to rupture of a blood vessel. It is less prevalent, which may correspond to 20% of all stroke cases.
Treatment
When a stroke occurs, care should be immediate and performed in a hospital. The faster the service occurs, the greater the chances of survival and absence of disability.
Best practices show that treatment of stroke, for a full investigation of the framework, it is recommended that the patient be kept under surveillance until neurological diagnostic confirmation.
Regardless of the type of stroke some measures are essential for better development of the framework:
Maintenance respiration and oxygenation of the patient;
Strict control of blood pressure and body temperature;
Early realization of scan (CT scan, for example);
 Monitoring in Intensive Care Unit in the first 24 to 48 hours;
Control levels of blood glucose;
Maintaining hydration of the patient;
Promotion of early rehabilitation.
Ischemic stroke
Ischemic stroke is caused by a blockage of a brain artery.
In the acute phase, preferably within the first three hours after the onset of signs and symptoms, medication can be administered intravenously, that desobstruirá the artery. Between 3 and 6 hours, the vessel patency is accomplished by catheterization and opening the vessel at the site of the obstruction. After 6 hours or if the initial tests, independent of time, there are signs of permanent injury is not more extensive we unclog the toilet by bleeding risk.
AVCI lacunar - usually have less severe clinical features and treated with antiplatelet agents such as aspirin.
AVCI atheromatous - depends vessel obstructed, can be treated with antiplatelet and, in some cases, surgical or endovascular carotid or vertebral arteries.
Embolic ischemic stroke - usually chooses treatment with heparin-like substances which reduce coagulation to minimize the risk of emboli.
Hemorrhagic stroke
The best treatment in most cases is the tight control of blood pressure.
In more severe cases - such as those with major hemorrhage and increased pressure inside the skull - the surgical option is to minimize bleeding due to lesions associated.
Prevention
The best treatment is prevention. Healthy lifestyle with regular physical activity, avoiding obesity and smoking, and not drinking too much alcohol can prevent stroke. Do not forget to check blood pressure and diabetes.
Any previous episode of stroke greatly increases the chances of the patient developing a new stroke. Therefore, patients with these characteristics must follow medical guidelines to prevent such recurrence, keeping your cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels low, your weight in the normal range for height, your blood pressure closely monitored and their blood glucose levels always normal limits. These patients can not smoke and should not drink alcohol.

Chronic Diseases Pericardium

The chronic pericarditis is inflammation resulting from accumulation of fluid in the pericardium or pericardial thickening. It has a gradual onset and persisting for an extended period of time. In the case of chronic pericarditis with effusion, there is a slow accumulation of fluid in the pericardium. The condition can be caused by cancer, tuberculosis or hypothyroidism.
When possible, the known causes are addressed and, if cardiac function is normal, your doctor may adopt a waiting, watching the evolution. Chronic constrictive pericarditis is a disease that occurs when there is formation of a fibrous tissue (scar) around the heart.
The fibrous tissue tends to shrink over time, compressing the heart and reduces its size. Compression increases pressure in the veins that return blood to the heart because more pressure is needed to fill it. There is an accumulation of fluid and then an escape, with the appearance of edema in the lower limbs, abdomen and sometimes in the space around the lungs.
Causes:
Any condition that causes acute pericarditis can cause chronic pericarditis, but usually the cause is unknown. The most common known sources of chronic pericarditis constrtiva are viral infections, tuberculosis and radiotherapy used in the treatment of breast cancer or lymphoma. The chronic constrictive pericarditis can also be caused by rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, some previous injury or a bacterial infection.
Previously, tuberculosis was the most common cause in the United States, but currently, it accounts for only 2% of cases. In Brazil, Africa and India, tuberculosis is still the most common cause of all forms of pericarditis.
Signs and symptoms:
chronic pericarditis cause dyspnea (difficulty breathing), cough (because the high pressure in the veins of the lungs pushes fluid into the air spaces) and fatigue (because the heart works so poor). Moreover, the disorder is painless. Also common is the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen and lower limbs (edema).
Diagnosis:
Symptoms provide important clues for diagnosis of chronic pericarditis, particularly if there are other reasons for the decrease in cardiac performance. Generally, in the case of chronic constrictive pericarditis, heart is not increased in chest radiographs, unlike what happens in most other heart diseases.
About half of people with chronic constrictive pericarditis has calcium deposits in the pericardium, which are observed in the chest X-ray. Two types of procedures can confirm the diagnosis. Cardiac catheterization is used to measure blood pressure in the heart chambers and major blood vessels.
Optionally, the doctor can make use of magnetic resonance tomography or cardiac heart, to measure the thickness of the pericardium. In general, the thickness of pericardium is less than 3 mm, but in chronic constrictive pericarditis it can reach 6 mm or more.
Treatment and prognosis (severity):
Although diuretics (drugs that promote the elimination of excess liquid) assist in reducing the symptoms of chronic pericarditis, the only possible treatment is surgical removal of the pericardium. The surgery healing about 85% of persons undergoing the procedure. However, as the risk of life is 5 to 15%, the majority of affected people opt for surgery when the disorder interferes substantially with the daily activities.