OpenRevise

Flashcards · Biology · The Circulatory System

Coronary Heart Disease and Its Treatment

17 cards

  1. What is coronary heart disease?

    A disease in which layers of fatty material build up inside the coronary arteries and narrow them.

  2. Why is coronary heart disease a non-communicable disease?

    It is not caused by a pathogen, so it cannot be passed from one person to another.

  3. What happens when the coronary arteries narrow?

    Less blood reaches the heart muscle, so it gets too little oxygen.

  4. What is a stent?

    A wire mesh tube put in a narrowed artery to hold it open.

  5. What is a statin?

    A drug that lowers blood cholesterol, which slows down the build-up of fatty deposits.

  6. Give one advantage of a stent.

    It keeps the artery open straight away, so blood flows freely again.

  7. Give one disadvantage of a stent.

    It needs surgery, and the artery can narrow again.

  8. Give one disadvantage of statins.

    They must be taken for a long time and can have side effects.

  9. What can go wrong with a heart valve?

    It may not open fully, or it may leak.

  10. What can replace a faulty heart valve?

    A biological valve or a mechanical valve.

  11. Give one advantage of a mechanical valve.

    It lasts a long time.

  12. Give one disadvantage of a mechanical valve.

    The patient needs drugs to stop the blood clotting.

  13. When is a heart transplant used?

    In heart failure, to replace the diseased heart with a donor heart (or heart and lungs).

  14. Give two problems with heart transplants.

    There are not enough donors, and the patient must take drugs for life to prevent rejection.

  15. Why are artificial hearts used?

    To keep a patient alive while they wait for a transplant, or to let the heart rest while it recovers.

  16. A healthy artery, a narrowed artery and a stented artery, with a pointer marked X to the stent. Name the structure marked X in this treated artery and say what it does.

    A stent. It is a mesh tube that holds the narrowed artery open so that blood can flow to the heart muscle.

  17. A healthy, a narrowed and a stented artery with no labels. Label the three arteries and the features that matter. The same three arteries with their features labelled.

    Healthy artery with a wide lumen. Artery wall with fatty deposit and narrow lumen. Artery with a stent holding the lumen open. Blood flow is restored.