Question

For the project, choose a disease of your choice. Use the headings in the document provided to discuss the disease.

Pathology Research

Body system:

Disease or condition:

Causes:

Prevention:

Risk factors (if any):

Symptoms:

Treatment:

Patient education/key points (how would you communicate this to your patient?):

Answer 1

• Unlike cardiovascular disease, which describes problems with the blood vessels and circulatory system as well as the heart, heart disease refers only issues and deformities in the heart itself.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia. One in every four deaths in the U.S. occurs as a result of heart disease.
• Heart disease might be treated with medication or surgery.
• Quitting smoking and exercising regularly can help prevent heart disease.
• The symptoms of heart disease depend on which condition is affecting an individual.
• However, common symptoms include chest pain, breathlessness, and heart palpitations. The chest pain common to many types of heart disease is known as angina, or angina pectoris, and occurs when a part of the heart does not receive enough oxygen.
• Angina can be triggered by stressful events or physical exertion and normally lasts under 10 minutes.
• Heart attacks can also occur as a result of different types of heart disease. The signs of a heart attack are similar to angina except that they can occur during rest and tend to be more severe.
• Heart failure is also an outcome of heart disease, and breathlessness can occur when the heart becomes too weak to circulate blood.
• Heart disease is caused by damage to all or part of the heart, damage to the coronary arteries, or a poor supply of nutrients and oxygen to the organ.
• Some types of heart disease, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, are genetic. These, alongside congenital heart defects, can occur before a person is born.
• There are a number of lifestyle choices that can increase the risk of heart disease. These include:
• high blood pressure and cholesterol
• smoking
• overweight and obesity
• diabetes
• family history
• a diet of junk food
• age
• Some risk factors, such as age and family history of early heart disease, can't be changed. For women, age becomes a risk factor at 55. After menopause, women are more apt to get heart disease, in part because their body's production of estrogen drops. Women who have gone through early menopause, either naturally or because they have had a hysterectomy, are twice as likely to develop heart disease as women of the same age who have not yet gone through menopause.
• There are two main lines of treatment for heart disease. Initially, a person can attempt to treat the heart condition using medications. If these do not have the desired effect, surgical options are available to help correct the issue.
• The most common surgeries include:angioplasty, in which a balloon catheter is inserted to widen narrowed blood vessels that might be restricting blood flow to the heart
• coronary artery bypass surgery, which allows blood flow to reach a blocked part of the heart in people with blocked arteries
• surgery to repair or replace faulty heart valves
• Some types of heart disease, such as those that are present from birth, cannot be prevented.
• Other types, however, can be prevented by taking the following measures:
• Eat a balanced diet. Stick to low-fat, high-fiber foods and be sure to consume five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables each day. Increase your intake of whole grains and reduce the amount of salt and sugar in the diet. Make sure the fats in the diet are mostly unsaturated.
• Exercise regularly. This will strengthen the heart and circulatory system, reduce cholesterol, and maintain blood pressure.
• Maintain a healthy body weight for your height. Click here to calculate your current and target body mass index (BMI).
• If one can reduce smoking and, quit. Smoking is a major risk factor for heart and cardiovascular conditions.
• Reduce the intake of alcohol.
• Clinicians should also explore how empowered a patient feels that he/she can affect CVD risk. Certain risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, can be very difficult to manage, and might affect a patient’s perceived ability to affect other risk factors. A patient’s prior experience in risk factor modification should be explored.
• After exploring their patients’ priorities for CVD prevention, clinicians need to determine their optimal recommendation (or recommendations) for therapy. This requires up-to-date knowledge of guidelines, novel trial data, known risks and benefits of therapies, and potential contraindications.
• After determining his or her recommendation (or recommendations) for CVD risk reduction, the clinician should discuss potential benefits and risks of those options with the patient. In CVD prevention, this starts with an accurate discussion about the patient’s risk of CVD, recognizing that there may be multiple ways to “accurately” communicate risk.
• Ultimately the patient is the decision maker, and clinicians should routinely re-engage in a discussion about CVD prevention to ensure adherence and address changes in risk and patient preferences.