HEART DISEASE SBI 3C: DECEMBER 2012

HEART ATTACK:  Blood flow to a section of the heart is blocked  If oxygen cannot get through the muscle starts to die and that section of the heart is damaged  Most often caused by coronary artery disease  Fatty material (plaque) builds up on inside of the arteries  Eventually plaque ruptures and a blood clot forms on the surface of the plaque  Blood clot blocks blood transport to that part of the heart

ANGIOPLASTY:  Once the location of the clot has been identified, a thin catheter with a very small deflated balloon is threaded in through the groin area  The balloon is pushed up to the blocked area and inflated  Opens the passage allowing blood to flow  A stent (small metallic mesh) can also be inserted into a blocked artery allowing blood to flow

CORONARY BYPASS SURGERY  A surgical procedure in which a vein graft is used to shunt blood supply around the blocked area in an artery  Surgeon uses a piece of vein from another part of the body to bypass the coronary artery and supply blood to the area beyond the blockage  Commonly referred to as open heart surgery

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE  Leading cause of death in Canada  Diseases:  Arteriosclerosis:  hardening of the arteries  Coronary artery disease:  Blockage of arteries that supply the heart with blood  Risk Factors:  Smoking  Physical inactivity  High cholesterol  High blood pressure  Obesity  Poor eating habits  Diabetes  Heredity

VALVE DISORDERS:  Malfunction of one or more of the heart valves in the body    Can be leaky or hardened  Valve Replacement Surgery:  Replace old valve with a new one from animal (cow or pig) or from human  Mechanical valves can also be used

HEART TRANSPLANT:  Used on patients who have end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease  Take a working heart from a recently deceased donor and implant it in patient  Can remove the original heart or leave the heart in to help the new heart  Generally survive for 15 years after a heart transplant  Worldwide there are 3,500 heart transplants performed every year; about 800,000 people need a new heart  It is possible to take a heart from another species or a mechanical one but these are much less successful

HEART TRANSPLANT  Normally a donor's heart is injected with potassium chloride in order to stop it beating, before being removed from the donor's body and packed in ice in order to preserve it  The ice can usually keep the heart fresh for a maximum of four to six hours  Doctors made medical history in February 2006 in Germany when they successfully transplanted a 'beating heart' into a patient  The heart was kept at body temperature and hooked up to a special machine called an Organ Care System that allows it to continue beating with warm, oxygenated blood flowing through it. This can maintain the heart in a suitable condition for much longer than the traditional method.

ORGAN TRANSPLANTS:  Organs that can be transplanted:  heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, and thymus  Tissues include bones, tendons, cornea, skin, heart valves, and veins (can be retrieved 24 hours after last heart beat and 5 years on preserved cadaver)  Organ donors can be living or brain dead  Brain-dead:  no response to pain no pupillary response (fixed pupils), retina reflex, corneal reflex (blink), and no spontaneous respirations  Organ trafficking  Organ donation