DISORDERS OF THE HEART AND BLOOD VESSELS

Because of the constant activity of the heart and blood vessels, there is a wide range of potential problems and disorders. The two most common disorders are coronary artery disease, the principal cause of heart attack, and hypertension. Yet there are other kinds of problems that can affect the health of the valves, the heart muscle, the rhythm of the heart, or the ability of your blood vessels to circulate the blood to your tissues. Some problems, called congenital, are present at birth; others occur as the result of infection, hereditary factors, problems with the action of thyroid hormone on your heart, lung diseases that affect your heart, or trauma.

In the following pages, we will consider individually several dozen heart and blood vessel disorders, as well as some of the remarkable advances made in recent years in diagnosis and treatment for heart and circu­latory problems. But before considering the problems, it is important to understand something about the basic interaction between the lives we lead and our health.

What we eat, our exercise patterns, whether we smoke, and a number of other lifestyle considerations have an impact on the health of our hearts as well as on other organ systems. So we will begin with the risk factors for coro­nary artery disease and what we can do to use that knowledge for longer, healthier lives.

Your primary care physician may treat some heart and circulatory disorders. How­ever, your physician may refer you to a cardiologist, a specialist who has had additional training in the diagnosis and management of heart and blood vessel disorders.