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| Latest Treatments for Heart Diseases |
By:
Avadh 
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Innumerable drugs are available for heart patients. These medicines are helpful in bringing blood pressure and cholesterol level down, preventing blood clots, reduce possibilities of angina and normalize the rhythm of contraction of heart.
In the treatment of heart diseases, there are several medical procedures involved. These include angiography, coronary artery bypass grafts, angioplasty, stenting, heart transplant, surgery for defect in valve and cardiac defibrillator implant.
Angioplasty
Angioplasty is done to treat coronary artery disease or CAD, in which the artery supplying blood to heart gets hardened. This leads to restriction in blood flow which results in chest pain. By angioplasty, the plaque is pushed against the artery wall which provides more space for the blood to flow. Angioplasty lasts a couple of hours and the patient is given mild anesthesia.
After Angioplasty, the patient may feel drowsy under the effect of the sedatives. The stay of a patient in the hospital depends on his condition after the procedure. Most patients are discharged after a few hours of observation.
At times, there may be complications in the procedure. An artery may close suddenly leading to a heart attack. In such a situation, emergency surgery is required. Clotting is another risk involved which is often reduced by giving aspirin and clopidogrel.
In a patient who has suffered a heart failure or whose heart is unable to pump blood, heart transplantation may become necessary. In heart transplants, the organ donated by people who suffer brain death, is used.
Artificial heart
As there are not many donors available, artificial heart is used as a temporary measure until a donor is not found. An artificial heart is a chamber capable of pumping blood. The pump is made up of metal and plastic and has a pumping chamber with a special lining to prevent clotting.
The pumping chamber can be implanted or may lie outside the body. The artificial heart may support left, right or both parts of the heart.
Total artificial heart (TAH) is another type of hearts which can be a substitute for the heart. It is implanted when a patient’s heart has been removed. TAH is used very rarely.
An artificial heart remains implanted till a person gets a donor. Some artificial hearts have been implanted for a period of more than a year.
In a normal heart, the atria contracts first and pushes blood into the ventricles after which the ventricles contract pumping the blood into the body. This is a continuous process. The contraction is set off by small electrical signals.
Sometimes, the electrical system of the heart fails and it requires an artificial pacemaker. Special pacemakers have been designed to help the hearts which pump poorly. These are very sophisticated systems and are known as biventricular pacemakers. The pacemaker is generally implanted in a cardiac catheterization laboratory where cardiac tests are performed. The procedure takes about an hour and the patient is given local anesthesia. Most patients are allowed to go home the next day.
In some cases, a small defibrillator is implanted in a patient to monitor the rhythm of the heart and give electric shock when required. This device is called Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICDs). It is larger and more sophisticated than a pacemaker.
http://www.always-health.com/heartdisease.html |
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