Detecting the Signs of Myocardial Ischemia Early On
If the heart’s myocardium fails to receive the proper amount of blood and oxygen, the disease called myocardial ischemia can occur.The myocardium is the muscular tissues of the heart. Myocardial ischmemia is one type of a coronary heart disease (CAD), and with that, is also called as the atherosclerotic CAD.
Myocardial ischmemia, together with all other CAD, are the leading causes of deaths worldwide. And this particular disease accounts for the most number of emergency cases when compared to the different types of CAD. In the U.S. alone, it is the main cause of an estimated 14% of all deaths recorded. And this is the reason why myocardial ischmemia has to be diagnosed before a heart attack episode, for it can really be fatal.
The Symptoms of Myocardial Ischmemia
The importance of detecting this disease early on is essential. But doing so is not really easy. For one thing, myocardial ischmemia may show no symptoms at all in a patient. However, some patients may experience unstable angina. Angina is the medical term given to chronic chest pains and discomforts. This primarily results when the heart doesn’t get enough blood.
Chest pains are the most common symptom and perhaps the only one experienced by people with myocardial ischmemia. It is then important that you don’t ignore any of the pains in the chest are that you may be feeling, no matter how mild they seem to be. It is always best to consult with a doctor to accurately diagnose what disease you have.
Diagnosing Myocardial Ischmemia
As stated earlier, diagnosing myocardial ischmemia can really be difficult. And this disease may occur in men or women of all ages. Usually, the doctors would request a definitive family history of the patient first. This will give them a clue whether or not to look in that direction when diagnosing the disease.
Patients who come to a doctor complaining chest pains are asked to undergo a certain stress test. This is to determine the extent of physical exertion their hearts can withstand. But this test is only applicable to people who are suspected to have mild myocardial ischmemia.
The most effective diagnosis tool of this disease is a nuclear scan of the myocardium. Nuclear myocardial imaging can accurately produce an image of the heart’s muscles, including their motion and perfusion. It can also assess the blood flowing through the coronary artery. If this tool is not readily available, doctors may settle for an echocardiogram, as this device is a lot more common in clinics and hospitals compared to the nuclear myocardial imaging device.
Treatment of Myocardial Ischmemia
To treat myocardial ischmemia, it is necessary that all the risks associated with the coronary artery disease be addressed first. In line with this, a thrombolytic therapy may be performed. The purpose of this therapy is to dissolve thrombi or blood clots forming in the blood vessels or inside the heart.
As for drugs, aspirin and other anti-platelet medicines have proven to help improve a patient’s condition. Nitrates may also be prescribed so that the blood flowing to the heart is increased while the oxygen requirement of the myocardium is lowered. Beta-blockers are a type of medicine that can also decrease the oxygen demand in the myocardial area. These drugs do it by normalizing the heart’s cardiac work. And aside from these, there are also drugs called calcium channel blockers. These drugs inhibit calcium ions to be transported into the cardiac area so that the muscles become more relaxed, hence lower blood pressure.
But in essence, the type of drugs to take and the therapeutic procedures to you have to undergo should be properly prescribed by your doctor. They are the one who knows exactly the extent of your disease. It is necessary that you consult with them early on precisely at the first signs of chronic chest pains. Self-medicating, or much worse, ignoring chest pains are not going to be helpful at all.
