Myocardial ischemia: Know the risk factors to it keep it at bay
Myocardial ischemia is a heart condition in which your blood flow to the
heart is reduced preventing the muscles in the heart to receive
required oxygen. This happens either due to complete or partial blockage
of your heart arteries. This leads to the reduced ability of your heart
muscles to pump blood. If not treated on time, myocardial ischemia can
cause heart attack or severe abnormal heart rhythm. If you have this
condition, you may experience symptoms like neck or jaw pain, a fast
heartbeat, sweating, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, vomiting etc.
As far as its diagnosis is concerned, doctors perform ECG, stress test,
echocardiogram, stress echocardiogram, coronary angiography, or cardiac
CT scan. Treatment of myocardial ischemia depends on the severity of
the condition. The doctors basically try to improve the blood flow to
the heart muscles. A patient with this condition may be prescribed
aspirin, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers etc. If the condition
is severe, doctor may perform angioplasty and stenting, coronary artery
bypass surgery, or enhanced external counterpulsation. To keep
myocardial ischemia at bay, you need to know its risk factors first.
Read on to know about them.
Smoking: Smoke can damage the inside walls of arteries and allow cholesterol deposits to slow blood flow in the coronary arteries.
Diabetes: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of myocardial ischemia.
High blood pressure: Hypertension can worsen atherosclerosis, leading to damage to the coronary arteries.
Obesity: Obesity is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels, factors which are already known to cause myocardial ischemia.
Sedentary lifestyle: Not being active contributes to obesity, which is already associated with ischemia.
Smoking: Smoke can damage the inside walls of arteries and allow cholesterol deposits to slow blood flow in the coronary arteries.
Diabetes: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of myocardial ischemia.
High blood pressure: Hypertension can worsen atherosclerosis, leading to damage to the coronary arteries.
Obesity: Obesity is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels, factors which are already known to cause myocardial ischemia.
Sedentary lifestyle: Not being active contributes to obesity, which is already associated with ischemia.