Heart Disease Treatment Options

While there are no cures for the most common causes of heart disease and heart failure, the American Heart Association says the three most common treatment options -- lifestyle change, medication, and surgery -- can help most people successfully manage and live with those conditions.

A doctor will often prescribe a combination of two and sometimes all three options to help patients recover from heart disease and prevent heart failure.

Lifestyle

Changing your diet, exercise and other habits can help slow or eliminate some of the factors that contribute to heart disease.

A healthy diet can help you reach and maintain a healthy body weight, lower your blood pressure and reduce cholesterol levels.

Quitting smoking and reducing the amounts of sodium, caffeine and alcohol you consume can also lower blood pressure, as well as other health benefits.

Getting more exercise may also lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart.

Medication

There are many drugs that treat the variety of causes of heart disease. According to the AHA, most people recovering from heart failure will take a combination of medications to manage their consideration. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offers the following guide to common drugs that treat heart disease.

ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor -- ACE inhibitors stop the production of a chemical that makes blood vessels narrow and is used to help control high blood pressure and for damaged heart muscle. It may be prescribed after a heart attack to help the heart pump blood better. It is also used for people with heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs.

Aspirin: Aspirin helps to lower the risk of a heart attack for those who have already had one. It also helps to keep arteries open in those who have had a previous heart bypass or other artery-opening procedure such as coronary angioplasty.

Because of its risks, aspirin is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for preventing heart attacks in healthy individuals. It may be harmful for some people, especially those with no risk of heart disease. Patients must be assessed carefully to make sure the benefits of taking aspirin outweigh the risks. Talk to your doctor about whether taking aspirin is right for you.

Beta blocker: Beta blockers slow the heart and makes it beat with less contracting force, so blood pressure drops and the heart works less hard. They are used for high blood pressure, chest pain and to prevent a repeat heart attack.

Blood cholesterol-lowering agents: These drugs decrease LDL cholesterol levels in the blood.

Digitalis: Digitalis makes the heart contract harder and is used when the heart's pumping function has been weakened; it also slows some fast heart rhythms.

Diuretic: Diuretics decrease fluid in the body and are used for high blood pressure. Diuretics are sometimes referred to as "water pills."

Nitrates (including nitroglycerine): Nitrates relax blood vessels and stop chest pain. Calcium channel blocker -- Calcium channel blockers relax blood vessels. They are used for high blood pressure and chest pain.

Thrombolytic agents: Thrombolic agents are also called "clot-busting drugs." They are given during a heart attack to break up a blood clot in a coronary artery in order to restore blood flow.

Surgical Options

The AHA calls surgery the least common treatment for heart failure. However, in cases where a correctable problem exists, such as a blocked valve or clogged artery, surgery may be in order.

Common surgical treatments for heart disease and heart failure include:

Angioplasty: Sometimes blood vessels leading to the heart become blocked or narrowed, inhibiting the heart's blood supply. One method of reopening these blood vessels is angioplasty. Surgeons insert a catheter with a tiny deflated balloon on its end into the blood vessel. When the balloon is at the site of the blockage, it is inflated to widen the artery and then removed.

Sometimes angioplasty is used in conjunction with a device called a stent. A stent is a wire mesh tube that remains in the blood vessel like a tiny piece of scaffolding, keeping the vessel open.

Valve replacement: If a defective or diseased valve is preventing the heart from functioning correctly, surgeons may replace it with a mechanical valve, one made from human tissue, or a valve from a donor.

Bypass surgery: Bypass surgery involves rerouting blood around a blocked segment of an artery. Surgeons remove a portion of a healthy blood vessel, often form the patient's leg or chest wall, and graft the healthy tissue before and after the blockage, routing blood around the obstruction.

Pacemakers: A pacemaker regulates the heart's rhythm by sending electrical impulses that cause the heart to beat. In a healthy heart, this function is handled by the sinoatrial, or sinus node, in the heart's right atrium.

If the sinotrial node isn't functioning correctly or its impulses are blocked, doctors may give the patient an artificial pacemaker. Artificial pacemakers are powered by batteries and may be either implanted in the patient's body or remain outside of the body.

Defibrillator implant: Patients with severely irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia) may have a defibrillator device implanted in their chest. Defibrillators deliver electrical impulses that counter abnormal heart rhythms.

Heart transplant: Sometimes severe heart failure or disease cannot be treated by medication or less invasive surgical procedures. Heart transplants involve taking a healthy heart from a donor who has died and implanting it in a patient with a failing heart. Finding a suitable donor can take months or even years. The AHA says that, despite the relatively high success rate, only about 2,500 heart transplants are performed each year.

Copyright 2003 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.