Heart Disease
What is it?
Heart disease is a general term that refers to a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions that affect one or more of the components of the heart. The heart is a muscular, fist-sized organ that is located in the left side of the chest cavity. It continuously pumps blood, beating as many as 100,000 times a day. The blood that the heart moves carries oxygen and nutrients throughout the body and transports carbon dioxide and other wastes to the lungs, kidneys, and liver for removal. The heart ensures its own oxygen supply through a set of coronary arteries and veins.
The heart is also an endocrine organ that produces the hormones atrial natriuretic hormone (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), which coordinate heart function with blood vessels and the kidneys. Internally, the heart is essentially hollow. It is divided vertically into two halves by a septum, and each side of the heart has two internal chambers – an atrium on top and a ventricle on the bottom. Venous blood enters the right side of the heart through the right atrium and is pumped by the right ventricle to the lungs, where carbon dioxide is released and oxygen acquired.
Oxygenated blood from the lungs is transported to the left atrium and is pumped by the left ventricle into arteries that carry it throughout the body. Four heart valves regulate the direction and flow of blood through the chambers of the heart. It is their opening and shutting that gives the heart its characteristic “lub-dub” beat. The heart muscle itself is called the myocardium. Lining the chambers of the heart and the valves is a membrane called the endocardium. Encasing the outside of the heart is the pericardium – a layered membrane that is fibrous on the outside and serous (fluid-secreting) on the inside. The pericardium forms a protective barrier around the heart and allows it to beat in a virtually friction free environment. Diseases affecting the heart may be structural or functional. Anything that damages the heart or decreases the heart’s supply of oxygen, makes it less efficient, reduces its ability to fill and pump, will disrupt the coordinated relationship between the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels and will harm not only the heart but the rest of the body as well.
Signs and Symptoms
Heart diseases may be acute of chronic. They may be transient, relatively stable, or progressive. They may cause a variety of signs and symptoms that frequently change and/or worsen over time. Chronic heart diseases can have episodes with acutely worsened symptoms; these may resolve (either on their own or with treatment), persist, or even become life-threatening. Patients with early heart disease may experience few or vague symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath with or without effort, dizziness, and/or nausea; however, these symptoms do not indicate the particular type of heart disease present. These symptoms may also be seen with a variety of other conditions. Other signs and complications that may arise from heart disease include:
Clinic telephone +86 (0574) 86000000 (Mon-Fri closed)
Website designed and maintained by Foreigners Medical Clinic, Ningbo Development Zone Central Hospital
All content on this website in its entirety is subject to copyright. No part is to be copied without express written permission of Ningbo Development Zone Central Hospital 宁波开发区中心医院
Heart disease is a general term that refers to a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions that affect one or more of the components of the heart. The heart is a muscular, fist-sized organ that is located in the left side of the chest cavity. It continuously pumps blood, beating as many as 100,000 times a day. The blood that the heart moves carries oxygen and nutrients throughout the body and transports carbon dioxide and other wastes to the lungs, kidneys, and liver for removal. The heart ensures its own oxygen supply through a set of coronary arteries and veins.
The heart is also an endocrine organ that produces the hormones atrial natriuretic hormone (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), which coordinate heart function with blood vessels and the kidneys. Internally, the heart is essentially hollow. It is divided vertically into two halves by a septum, and each side of the heart has two internal chambers – an atrium on top and a ventricle on the bottom. Venous blood enters the right side of the heart through the right atrium and is pumped by the right ventricle to the lungs, where carbon dioxide is released and oxygen acquired.
Oxygenated blood from the lungs is transported to the left atrium and is pumped by the left ventricle into arteries that carry it throughout the body. Four heart valves regulate the direction and flow of blood through the chambers of the heart. It is their opening and shutting that gives the heart its characteristic “lub-dub” beat. The heart muscle itself is called the myocardium. Lining the chambers of the heart and the valves is a membrane called the endocardium. Encasing the outside of the heart is the pericardium – a layered membrane that is fibrous on the outside and serous (fluid-secreting) on the inside. The pericardium forms a protective barrier around the heart and allows it to beat in a virtually friction free environment. Diseases affecting the heart may be structural or functional. Anything that damages the heart or decreases the heart’s supply of oxygen, makes it less efficient, reduces its ability to fill and pump, will disrupt the coordinated relationship between the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels and will harm not only the heart but the rest of the body as well.
Signs and Symptoms
Heart diseases may be acute of chronic. They may be transient, relatively stable, or progressive. They may cause a variety of signs and symptoms that frequently change and/or worsen over time. Chronic heart diseases can have episodes with acutely worsened symptoms; these may resolve (either on their own or with treatment), persist, or even become life-threatening. Patients with early heart disease may experience few or vague symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath with or without effort, dizziness, and/or nausea; however, these symptoms do not indicate the particular type of heart disease present. These symptoms may also be seen with a variety of other conditions. Other signs and complications that may arise from heart disease include:
- Arrhythmia
- Dilation – stretching of one or more of the heart chambers, causing their interiors to become larger because of increased pressure
- Embolism – blockage of a blood vessel by material that has travelled from a distant body site, most often a blood clot, but it can be due to fat or air or even amniotic fluid
- Inability to keep up with increased demands for oxygen and clearance of waste products, such as during physical activity
- Infarction – death of muscle cells due to blockage of blood flow
- Insufficient contraction – not emptying or filling completely
- Pain, frequently due to ischemia – a lack of sufficient oxygen because of reduced blood flow
- Regurgitation – a backflow of blood causing increased pressure on the blood vessels of the lungs and liver
- Stenosis – a narrowing of the openings of the heart
- Tissue death – permanent loss of heart tissue due to lack of oxygen, leading to scarring
- Ventricular hypertrophy – increased thickness of the walls of the heart, causing a decrease in the size of the chambers and also a decrease in the flexibility of the heart
- Alcohol use
- Anabolic steroid use
- Atherosclerosis
- Autoimmune conditions
- Bacterial infection Cocaine use
- Congenital abnormalities
- Diabetes
- Diet, especially when high in saturated fat and cholesterol
- Hypertension
- Injury or trauma Sedentary lifestyle
- Smoking
- Thyroid dysfunction (under and overactive)
- Toxins, such as mercury, and sometimes chemotherapy drugs or HIV/AIDS drugs
- Viral infection
Clinic telephone +86 (0574) 86000000 (Mon-Fri closed)
Website designed and maintained by Foreigners Medical Clinic, Ningbo Development Zone Central Hospital
All content on this website in its entirety is subject to copyright. No part is to be copied without express written permission of Ningbo Development Zone Central Hospital 宁波开发区中心医院