Wellness
Heart conditions can be ‘silent’
The image many people get when they think
of heart conditions is a grown man cluthing
his chest. But not all heart conditions
are as obvious or pronounced as a heart attack.
Ischemia is a term used to describe the restriction
of oxygen-rich blood to an area of the
body. Cardiac ischemia occurs when the blood
cannot reach the heart.
Generally, cardiac ischemia causes pain in
the chest, known as angina. However, in some
cases, there is no warning pain and the condition
is called silent ischemia.
Facts and fi gures
Silent ischemia affects roughly three to four
million Americans every year. Individuals who
have had a previous heart attack are at higher
risk for silent ischemia than others. But there
are many other risk factors:
• Diabetes
• Coronary artery disease
• Hypertension
• Coronary artery anomalies
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Cardiomyopathy
If ischemia lasts too long or is especially severe,
it may cause a heart attack. It can also
affect the natural rhythm of the heart and its
pumping ability, which can cause fainting, and
even sudden cardiac arrest.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Silent ischemia has no symptoms. However,
if a person has had previous episodes of chest
pain, there’s a liklihood that he or she could also
be experiencing silent ischemia and not know
it. Doctors may use an exercise stress test to determine
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silent ischemia. Also, a special monitor
called a Holter monitor will record the heart
rate and rhythm over the course of a day and determine
if ischemia occurred.
Treatment
The main way to treat silent ischemia is to reduce
certain behaviors that increase risk. This
includes quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol,
and maintaining a healthy weight and diet.
For those who are diagnosed with silent ischemia,
there are some treatment options available.
Most of these involve improving blood
fl ow to the heart, which often requires prescription
medications. Oxygen also may be given to
increase the oxygen content of the blood that
is reaching the heart. Other people may take
medicines that relax blood vessels, enabling
more blood to fl ow. In most cases, this is all that
is needed to fi x the situation. For those not responding
to treatment, they may need a percutaneous
coronary intervention, such as balloon
angioplasty, coronary artery bypass surgery, or
a similar procedure.
Silent ischemia is a potentially dangerous heart condition that’s
diffi cult to detect and can result in cardiac arrest.
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