Atherosclerosis & Coronary Artery Disease

• Facts
• Risk Factors
• Diagnosis

You may know atherosclerosis as "hardening of the arteries." It occurs when cholesterol and calcium collect in the arteries supplying blood to the heart and form a plaque. The plaque narrows the artery, blocking blood flow and causing coronary artery disease, or CAD. When there is insufficient blood flowing to the heart, you may have chest pain or "angina" and have a heart attack. Even an early build-up of plaque can increase your chance of heart attack because the plaque can be unstable, rupture and block an artery. Atherosclerosis can also cause a stroke.

Facts About Heart Disease:

• Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the number one cause of death in the U.S.
• 1.5 million Americans have CAD
• 500,000 people die annually from CAD; one half die suddenly without previous symptoms
• 12 million people have a history of heart attack, chest pain or both

What are the risk factors for heart disease?

• Men 45 or older, women 55 or older
• Sedentary lifestyle, overweight
• High cholesterol
• Chronically elevated stress levels
• Family history of heart disease
• Uncontrolled high blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke

Diagnosis

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the western world. Each year in the U.S.A, more than 500,000 men and women die from coronary artery disease. During the past two decades, major strides have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Nuclear Cardiology has played a pivotal role in establishing the diagnosis of heart disease and in the assessment of disease extent and the prediction of outcomes in the setting of coronary artery disease.

Nuclear Cardiology
Nuclear cardiology studies use noninvasive techniques to assess myocardial blood flow, evaluate the pumping function of the heart as well as visualize the size and location of a heart attack. Among the techniques of nuclear cardiology, myocardial perfusion imaging is the most widely used.

• Myocardial perfusion imaging
• Radionuclide ventriculography

Stents are used to hold open areas of arteries narrowed by artherosclerosis

Assessment of Myocardial Injury, Infarction and Infection
The basic cellular component of the heart muscle may be irreversibly affected in the setting of a limited blood supply and or inflammation. Nuclear cardiology techniques can be used to determine which areas of the heart muscle have been damaged by infection or by a heart attack. These techniques can also be used to monitor the status of the heart muscle in the patient after cardiac transplantation.

In the new millenium, nuclear cardiology studies will continue to play a pivotal role in the noninvasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease, the assessment of the pumping function of the heart and the prediction of outcomes in patients with heart disease.