About the Cardiovascular System
The cardiovascular system is made up of the heart and blood vessels. These blood vessels transport around 5 liters of blood throughout the entire body. Each breath you take delivers oxygen to the lungs. As the lungs fill with oxygen, the oxygen is distributed evenly to deoxygenated blood cells. The lungs send clean, new, healthy blood cells to the heart to be sent out into the body. From the heart, the oxygenated blood cells are sent out to the body while the deoxygenated blood cells are sent to the lungs to receive more oxygen. Unfortunately, things do not always go as planned. Several things can go wrong with the cardiovascular system. Some of these diseases and disorders are listed below:
10 Diseases
Hypertension/High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is a very dangerous disease. It has no visual symptoms which makes it deadly. There is no known cause to hypertension. It is seen in pregnancy, over stressing, sometimes race, sodium intake, etc. A change in diet will help decrease the risk of hypertension.
|
Heart Attack/Myocardial Infarction (MI)
Myocardial infarction is mainly caused by necrosis of the heart (when the muscles surrounding the heart die). This is irreversible. Ischemia (lack of blood) is caused when the muscles die. This means blood doesn't get pumped through the heart.
|
Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD)
PVD can be caused by the hardening or build up of plaque on and in the arteries in the heart and brain. Symptoms depend on the location of the build up. The main symptom is pain in the calf when walking.
|
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
CAD is basically atherosclerosis (plaque in the arteries). This begins with hard cholesterol build up in the coronary artery. Symptoms are angina (chest pain), heart attack, and sudden death if not treated.
|
WPW (Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome)
WPW, also known as ventricular pre-excitation with arrhythmia, is the most common type of ventricular pre-excitation syndromes. People with WPW are born with an extra connection in the heart called an accessory pathway. This pathway allows electrical signals to go around the atrioventricular node. This makes the electricity in the heart move from the atria to the ventricles faster than normal. This results in the arrival of electrical signals in the ventricle sooner than it should. Most symptoms go unnoticed by the patient. In severe cases when the patient can feel symptoms, the symptoms could include: dizziness, rapid heart beat, shortness of breath, chest palpitations, fainting, and even cardiac arrest. Treatment is not necessary but it is important for patients to see a doctor regularly.
|
Cardiomegaly
Cardiomegaly is enlargement of the heart. This is assumed to be the direct effect of the thickening of the heart muscles when the heart is over worked. Exercise is a huge factor. Most athletes have enlarged hearts but it is not considered a medical emergency in their situation. Cardiomegaly has many symptoms but it depends on the severity of the patients case. Some symptoms are shortness of breath, dizziness, and quickening or slowing of ones pulse.
|
Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA)
A CVA (stroke) is typically caused by a blockage in an artery in the brain. There are two main types of strokes, a hemorrhagic stroke and an ischemic stroke. Medication has shown to have little or no effect on patients. Most strokes are the result of atherosclerosis and hypertension.
|
Murmur
A heart murmur is an extra heart beat or an unusual sound heard during heart contractions. The sound heard when the heart is beating is the blood entering and exiting through the heart s valves. Sometimes the valves get "out of rhythm" and can make an extra "beat". Murmurs can happen in adults and children. Most murmurs in children show signs of heart defects that are found at birth. When adults contract murmurs later in life, it is usually a sign of heart valve disease.
|
Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia is the irregularity in the rhythm of the heart beat. It can be caused by PAC (premature atrial contractions) when the atrium do not contract when they are supposed to. It can also be caused by PVC (premature ventricular contractions) when the ventricle does not contract when it is supposed to. In other words, it is a skipped heart beat. it can happen during exercise, too much caffeine/stress.
|
Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
CHF does not always mean the heart has completely stopped working. CHF in a simpler description is when the heart does not pump as strong as it should or use to. CAD and other valve disorders typically cause heart failure.
|
Citations
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/AboutArrhythmia/About-Arrhythmia_UCM_002010_Article.jsp
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/enlarged-heart-causes-symptoms-types
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide-heart-failure
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/heartmurmur/
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/electric/wpw.aspx
http://seniorhealth.about.com/cs/stroke/g/def_cva.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/155919-overview
http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/cardiovascular-disease/pvd/what-is-pvd.html
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-coronary-artery-disease
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/enlarged-heart-causes-symptoms-types
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide-heart-failure
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/heartmurmur/
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/electric/wpw.aspx
http://seniorhealth.about.com/cs/stroke/g/def_cva.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/155919-overview
http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/cardiovascular-disease/pvd/what-is-pvd.html
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-coronary-artery-disease