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Coronary heart disease

Drugs and surgery can help to control coronary heart disease.

There are many lifestyle changes which can even be made after coronary heart disease is diagnosed.

• Lower blood cholesterol by cutting down on fatty foods.
• Stop smoking and other recreational drugs. They can affect heart rate and blood pressure, increasing the risk of a heart attack.
• Learn to reduce stress by relaxing.
• Take regular exercise.
• Maintain a healthy Body Mass Index to avoid high blood pressure and reduce the strain on the heart
• Reduce the amount of salt in the diet to help reduce blood pressure.

There are also medicines which can:

• reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood
• reduce blood pressure

People with very high blood pressure may be prescribed medicines to help lower it. They will probably have to take those medicines for the rest of their life.

Sometimes the damage to the heart is so serious that the medicines alone are not enough. A doctor will have to evaluate the options available to decide what is best for the patient. Factors which they need to consider include:

• the likely effectiveness of the treatment
• the risk of causing further harm
• the costs and benefits to both the patient and the health service

Coronary bypass

The coronary arteries supply the heart muscle cells with food and oxygen so they can respire and release energy for muscle contraction. If an artery becomes blocked the cells in the area served by that artery become starved of oxygen and food and may die.

A coronary bypass is an operation in which veins from the patient's leg are grafted into the heart in order to bypass the sections of the coronary artery that are blocked. There are four coronary arteries, so the largest number of grafts is called a 'quadruple bypass'.