Over time, unhealthy lifestyle habits increase your risk of coronary heart disease because they can lead to plaque buildup in the heart’s blood vessels. Learn more about the important role that inflammation, which is the body’s reaction to an injury, plays in the development of coronary heart disease. Figure B shows a large coronary artery with plaque buildup.
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Figure A shows the small coronary artery network, which includes a normal artery and an artery with coronary microvascular disease. Coronary microvascular disease in small arteries and obstructive coronary artery disease in large arteries. Coronary microvascular disease can happen with or without obstructive or nonobstructive coronary artery disease. These problems can also happen in the tiny blood vessels in the heart, causing coronary microvascular disease (sometimes called coronary syndrome X). Medical Illustration Copyright © 2019 Nucleus Medical Media, All rights reserved. Bottom right: This artery also has a spasm but is considered to be obstructive coronary artery disease, because it is 80% blocked. However, the vasospasm causes severe narrowing. Bottom left: This artery is also classified as nonobstructive because it is less than 50% blocked by plaque. This is a type of nonobstructive coronary artery disease. Top right: This artery does not have plaque buildup but has a vasospasm, causing it to narrow. Top left: image of a heart showing the coronary arteries. Spasm and plaque buildup can cause your arteries to narrow. The spasm causes the arteries to narrow temporarily and blocks blood flow to the heart. In nonobstructive coronary artery disease, damage to the inner walls of the coronary arteries can cause them to spasm (suddenly tighten). Molecular changes affect the way genes and proteins are controlled inside cells. Molecular changes that are part of the normal aging process.Damage or injury to the walls of the arteries or tiny blood vessels from chronic inflammation, high blood pressure, or diabetes.The cause of these problems is not fully clear. But if you have coronary heart disease, the size of these blood vessels may not change, or the blood vessels may even narrow. Normally, the blood vessels widen to allow more blood flow when a person is physically active or under stress. For example, the blood vessels may not respond to signals that the heart needs more oxygen-rich blood. Problems with how the heart’s blood vessels work can cause coronary heart disease. Small plaques can also develop in the small blood vessels in the heart, causing coronary microvascular disease. In nonobstructive coronary artery disease, the large arteries may be narrowed by plaque, but not as much as they are in obstructive disease. The blood flow may eventually be completely blocked in one or more of the three large coronary arteries. Obstructive coronary artery disease means the heart’s arteries are more than 50% blocked. The buildup of plaque limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood through the artery. The image shows a normal coronary artery with normal blood flow and a blocked coronary artery narrowed by plaque. When this buildup happens in the heart's arteries over many years, the arteries become narrower and harden, reducing oxygen-rich blood flow to the heart. Plaque buildup in the arteries is called atherosclerosis.
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If you have coronary heart disease, your doctor will recommend heart-healthy lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, or a combination of these approaches to treat your condition and prevent complications.Įxplore this Health Topic to learn more about coronary heart disease, our role in research and clinical trials to improve health, and where to find more information. However, because many people have no symptoms, they do not know they have coronary heart disease until they have chest pain, a heart attack, or sudden cardiac arrest. Symptoms of coronary heart disease may be different from person to person even if they have the same type of coronary heart disease. It occurs when the heart’s tiny blood vessels do not work normally. Coronary microvascular disease is another type of coronary heart disease. Some types of this condition may be caused by disease or injury affecting how the arteries work in the heart.
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This buildup can partially or totally block blood flow in the large arteries of the heart. It is the leading cause of death in the United States.Ĭoronary heart disease is often caused by the buildup of plaque, a waxy substance, inside the lining of larger coronary arteries. Coronary heart disease is a type of heart disease that develops when the arteries of the heart cannot deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Heart disease is a catch-all phrase for a variety of conditions that affect the heart’s structure and function.