What is Coronary Artery Disease? Pathophysiology of CAD Animation - Heart Attack and Angina Video
The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle itself. Damage to or blockage of a coronary artery can result in injury to the heart. Normally, blood flows through a coronary artery unimpeded. However, a process called atherosclerosis can cause a buildup of cholesterol and cells and other substances in the wall of the artery forming a plaque. If this process restricts blood flow enough it may result in a lack of oxygen to the heart muscle and cause angina. If the inner wall of a coronary artery becomes damaged, the inner contents of plaque can be exposed to the bloodstream and the body can bring substances such as platelets to the injured site and cause a further narrowing or complete blockage.
If blood flow is reduced severely or completely, death of part of the heart muscle that the artery supplies can occur. This is called a heart attack.
Coronary artery disease (CAD), also known as ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a group of diseases that includes: stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden coronary death. It is within the group of cardiovascular diseases of which it is the most common type. A common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may travel into the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw. Occasionally it may feel like heartburn. Usually symptoms occur with exercise or emotional stress, last less than a few minutes, and get better with rest. Shortness of breath may also occur and sometimes no symptoms are present. The first sign is occasionally a heart attack. Other complications include heart failure or an irregular heartbeat.
Risk factors include: high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol, among others. Other risks include depression. The underlying mechanism involves atherosclerosis of the arteries of the heart. A number of tests may help with diagnoses including: electrocardiogram, cardiac stress testing, coronary computed tomographic angiography, and coronary angiogram, among others.
Pathophysiology
Micrograph of a coronary artery with the most common form of coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis) and marked luminal narrowing. Masson's trichrome.
Illustration depicting coronary artery disease
Limitation of blood flow to the heart causes ischemia (cell starvation secondary to a lack of oxygen) of the myocardial cells. Myocardial cells may die from lack of oxygen and this is called a myocardial infarction (commonly called a heart attack). It leads to heart muscle damage, heart muscle death and later myocardial scarring without heart muscle regrowth. Chronic high-grade stenosis of the coronary arteries can induce transient ischemia which leads to the induction of a ventricular arrhythmia, which may terminate into ventricular fibrillation leading to death.
Typically, coronary artery disease occurs when part of the smooth, elastic lining inside a coronary artery (the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle) develops atherosclerosis. With atherosclerosis, the artery's lining becomes hardened, stiffened, and swollen with calcium deposits, fatty deposits, and abnormal inflammatory cells - to form a plaque. Deposits of calcium phosphates (hydroxyapatites) in the muscular layer of the blood vessels appear to play not only a significant role in stiffening arteries but also for the induction of an early phase of coronary arteriosclerosis. This can be seen in a so-called metastatic mechanism of calciphylaxis as it occurs in chronic kidney disease and haemodialysis (Rainer Liedtke 2008). Although these patients suffer from a kidney dysfunction, almost fifty percent of them die due to coronary artery disease. Plaques can be thought of as large "pimples" that protrude into the channel of an artery, causing a partial obstruction to blood flow. Patients with coronary artery disease might have just one or two plaques, or might have dozens distributed throughout their coronary arteries. A more severe form is chronic total occlusion (CTO), when a coronary artery is completely obstructed for more than 3 months.
Cardiac syndrome X is a term that describes chest pain (Angina pectoris) and chest discomfort in people who do not show signs of blockages in the larger coronary arteries of their hearts when an angiogram (coronary angiogram) is being performed. The exact cause of cardiac syndrome X is unknown. One explanation is microvascular dysfunction. For reasons that are not well known, women are more likely than men to have it; however, hormones and other risk factors unique to women may play a role.
What Is Coronary Heart Disease?
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart muscle.
When plaque builds up in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis.
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