Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is a type of heart disease. The coronary arteries are blood vessels that take the blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. When the arteries become clogged with plaque, it is called coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is sometimes called coronary heart disease (CHD). Clogged arteries can keep the heart from getting enough blood and oxygen and can cause chest pain. If a blood clot forms, it can suddenly cut off blood flow in the artery and cause a heart attack. One cause of plaque in the arteries is too much cholesterol in the blood. As plaque then builds up, the artery opening over time becomes narrow and becomes clogged. The artery can also become less.

Two of the main risk factors for getting CAD are aging and being male. Women tend to get heart disease later than men do. It is thought that female hormones help protect women from heart disease before menopause. After menopause, women have heart disease as often as men do. Also having high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, a diet too high in saturated fat, being overweight, not exercising, too much stress, smoking, and having close relatives with heart disease at younger ages can be a risk also.

Chest pain and shortness of breath are often the first signs of coronary artery disease. Some people don't know that they have CAD until they have a heart attack. There are things you can do to lower your risks and improve the health of your heart and blood vessels. There are three main treatments for CAD. The first is medicine, then surgical procedures like angioplasty that open blocked arteries, and bypass surgery. All of the results may not be the same in women as compared to men. None of these treatments fully cures heart disease though.