Angina pectoris. What is this disease and what is it characterized by

Angina is the most common pathology of the heart. The second name of this disease is "angina pectoris". Angina pectoris - what is it? This term in medicine refers to painful attacks that result from insufficient blood supply to the heart. In this article we will consider in detail the questions concerning this pathology.

Angina: what is it?

This disease is one of the types of ischemic heart disease. The cause of the pathology is atherosclerosis of blood vessels and the formation of blood clots in them. This leads to ischemia or oxygen starvation of the heart. Under any kind of stress (emotional or physical) the disease progresses. This is due to the fact that the heart muscle in this situation begins to decline more often. Therefore, to provide energy, it needs additional blood supply. But as a result of the fact that the lumen of blood vessels is narrowed by thrombi and atherosclerotic plaques, ischemia only intensifies. Thus, suddenly there is oxygen starvation, accompanied by a pain attack.

Symptoms

So, what are the signs accompanied by angina? What is this disease, we considered earlier. Now we describe the main symptoms that arise in this pathology. Stenocardia is characterized by a burning or squeezing pain, localized behind the sternum. She can give in the left shoulder blade or arm. Attacks of the ailment, as a rule, begin during any physical activity. This can be fast walking, running or just changing positions. In some cases, spasm occurs when there is severe stress. The main signs of the disease are fear and shortness of breath. Often the ailment is accompanied by arrhythmia.

Angina pectoris. Classification

The forms of the disease are determined by the clinical course of the disease. Depending on the condition in which the symptoms manifest themselves, distinguish angina of tension and rest. In the first case, painful sensations occur at any load. In this case, seizures, disturbing with a certain periodicity, last for several minutes. After taking the drug "Nitroglycerin" and stopping the pain load disappear. In the event that attacks began to increase or arise at rest, it can be assumed that the disease has passed into another form, whose name is "angina of rest". However, the exact diagnosis can be made only by a doctor after a stationary examination. With this disease, the heart muscle is always in ischemic status.

At the same time, the symptoms of the ailment, not related to physical efforts, worry spontaneously, especially at night and in the morning. Patients feel pain in the heart, lack of air. Treatment of the disease is possible only by surgical methods. Stenocardia tension, in turn, is divided into the first arisen, progressive and spontaneous. The first variety is characterized by the onset of seizures for the first time in life. In this case, spasms appear both during exercise and at rest. Progressing angina is caused by the development of coronary atherosclerosis and the influence of various aggravating factors (tachycardia, physical overload, hypertension, etc.). Attacks become more frequent, prolonged, and the pain syndrome is brighter. The effect of taking medication is reduced. The next variety is spontaneous angina. What is it? With this disease, the occurrence of prolonged attacks of cardiac pain (about 15 minutes) at rest. In this case, medicines, as a rule, do not help.