What Is Heart Disease?

Heart disease refers to any illness or condition of the heart, including:
 
Coronary Heart Disease
Heart Failure
Hypertensive Heart Disease
Congenital Heart Disease
 Heart Valve Disorders
Infections of the Heart
Cardiomyopathy
Conduction Disorder
Rhythm Disorders
   
 
Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary Heart Disease is the most common form of heart disease. It involves a reduction in the blood supply to the heart muscle by narrowing or blocking of the coronary arteries. Coronary Heart Disease is often characterized by:

Heart attack (myocardial infarction)
Chest pain (angina pectoris)
Plaque buildup (arteriosclerosis) in the
   coronary arteries

What Is A Heart Attack?

The medical term for heart attack is "myocardial infarction." A heart attack is also sometimes called a "coronary thrombosis" or "coronary occlusion."

But whatever you call it, a heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle (the "myocardium") is severely reduced or stopped.

This reduction, or stoppage, happens when one or more of the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle is blocked. Blockage is usually caused by the buildup of plaque (deposits of fat-like substances). This is a process called "arteriosclerosis." The plaque can eventually burst, tear or rupture, creating a sort of snag where a blood clot forms and then blocks the artery. This leads to a heart attack.

If the blood supply is cut off for more than a few minutes, muscle cells suffer permanent injury and die. This can kill or disable a person, depending on how much heart muscle is damaged.

Sometimes an artery around the heart temporarily contracts or goes into spasm. When this happens, the artery narrows and blood flow to part of the heart muscle slows or stops. We're not sure what causes a spasm. A spasm can occur in normal-appearing blood vessels as well as in vessels partly blocked by arteriosclerosis. A severe spasm can cause a heart attack.