Coronary artery disease

<body background="../_themes/expeditn/exptextb.jpg" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#993300" vlink="#666600" alink="#CC3300"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"> <p>The most common problem with the heart in the US is a problem with the coronary arteries getting clogged, just like water pipes at home getting clogged. This leads to the heart not getting enough blood, not all the time, but sometimes when you need more blood. The symptoms are chest pain or tightness, at first when you exercise, when your heart needs more blood. The next step is a heart attack, when part of the heart does not get enough blood for long enough that it dies. When muscle dies, it never comes back. The next step is heart failure, when enough muscle is not working that the blood does not pump enough blood for the body. Although most people do get the chest pain or tightness, some people get almost no symptoms, especially in people with diabetes.</p> <p>This is a picture of a cross section of a coronary artery. It has a lot of space. The size of a normal artery is actually very small. It is usually 1.5mm to 3mm.</p> <p><img border="0" src="../images/intro6.gif" width="443" height="342"></p> <p>This is a cross section of a diseased coronary artery. Most of the lumen is filled up with blockage and this vessel cannot deliver much blood. All coronary arteries are bigger than they need to be and can deliver more blood than you would ever need. In general they have to be blocked 70% before it restricts enough blood flow to cause problems. </p> <p><img border="0" src="../images/intro7.gif" width="443" height="342"></p> <p><a href="intro1-3.htm" target="_top">previous</a>    <a href="intro1-5.htm" target="_top">next</a></p> </font><table border="1" width="100%" bordercolordark="#660000" bordercolorlight="#CC9966"> <tr> <td width="16%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../index1.htm" target="_top">Home</a></font></td> <td width="16%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../services1.htm" target="_top">Services</a></font></td> <td width="17%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../info1.htm" target="_top">Info</a></font></td> <td width="17%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../faq1.htm" target="_top">FAQ's</a></font></td> <td width="17%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../contact1.htm" target="_top">Contact Us</a></font></td> <td width="17%"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><a href="../links1.htm" target="_top">Links</a></font></td> </tr> </table><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"></font></body>