Coronary Artery Disease Essay

Coronary heart disease is the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries that could lead to a myocardial infarction. However, coronary heart disease, or CHD, is actually a result of coronary artery disease, or CAD. With coronary artery disease, plaque accumulates within the walls of the coronary arteries until the blood flow to the heart is limited, causing ischemia. It may be chronic, caused by narrowing of the coronary artery over time. It can be acute, resulting from a sudden rupture and formation of a blood clot. The accumulation of plaque can cause angina, shortness of breath, fatigue or other heart attack symptoms. If left untreated, coronary artery disease can lead to a myocardial infarction or death. Doctors often treat coronary artery disease with a procedure known as angioplasty to widen the affected artery using a
balloon angioplasty, atherectomy, bare metal stents, and drug-eluting stents), and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Each procedure has its own advantages and disadvantages. A patient should fully discuss these alternatives and side effects with his physician to select the method before choosing. Patients must speak to their physicians to see if they meet all qualifications for a procedure using the new BVS stent. Patients who cannot tolerate or have an allergy to anticoagulation agents used in this procedure or post-procedural antiplatelet medications, as well as (poly (L-lactide), poly (D, L-lactide), platinum) or with contrast sensitivity should not use this product. Complications may include: catheter site infection, bleeding, and coronary artery complications that may require additional interventions such as: arteriovenous fistula, pseudoaneurysm, aneurysm, dissection, perforation or rupture, embolism, peripheral nerve injury, peripheral