The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Treatments Of Heart Disease

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The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Treatments Of Heart Disease

Every year in the United Kingdom 270,000 people suffer heart attacks;

along with this 2.1 million people suffer angina and other classic

symptoms of heart disease (source 6). In this piece I am going to

discus and in some cases challenge the modern technological,

pharmaceutical and ethical issues related to heart disease.

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The overwhelming cause of heart disease is atherosclerosis: the build

up of lipid plaques (atheromas) in the coronary arteries; this in turn

causes arteriosclerosis which is a thickening and hardening of the

arteries and a decrease in elasticity (saurce1). Plaques have a

protruding rough surface and so platelets stick to them and rupture.

They then release growth hormones that cause the plaque to increase in

size or release clotting factors that also cause the blockage to

increase in size. Once this reaches a limit ischaemia sets in. This

condition, in this instance, is the lack of O2, glucose and amino

acids and reduced removal of H+ lactate and K+ ions to the

mycrocardium; this decrease in pH produces a pain known as angina. If

this lasts for an hour or more, the area may be permanently damaged

(source 4). Death of heart muscle is known as myocardial infraction or

more commonly, a heart attack. During ischaemia an arrhythmia called

ventricular fibrillation can occur (source 1 & 4). This results in

uncoordinated, weak contractions, a drop in blood pressure and sudden

death if untreated. Other types of heart disease include; congenital

heart disease: abnormalities that are present at birth,

cardiomyopathy: affects manly heart muscle rather than the arteries,

valular heart disease: abnormalities of the four valves that control

blood flow in the heart (Source 2).

There are many factors that may contribute to some people having a

higher chance of contracting heart disease compared to others; one

reason for this is hereditary. Some people have a genetic

predisposition, though unfortunate this is not uncommon, children

inherit high LDL (low-density lipoproteins) cholesterol levels from

their parents or even a lack of receptors which detect and remove LDL,

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