Acute Coronary Syndrome: Symptoms, Diagnosis, And Treatment

Much like metabolic syndrome, acute coronary syndrome describes a series of problems that cause blood flow to the heart to suddenly drop. People who have this syndrome often experience chest pain and require immediate medical attention. It’s important to take all measures to improve blood flow as soon as possible.

Symptoms of acute coronary syndrome

Some other signs of acute coronary syndrome include restlessness, excessive fatigue that’s not due to actual lack of sleep or physical exhaustion, heavy sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness or light-headedness, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting.

The intensity or even the occurrence of these symptoms varies depending on your current health status, but they are also determined by gender and age. Whatever the case, the acute coronary syndrome is and should be treated as a medical emergency.

Causes of acute coronary syndrome

Much like all coronary artery problems, this syndrome is a result of atherosclerosis, which is plaque build-up on the artery walls. As coronary arteries become stiff and narrow, they are likely to develop blood clots, which can partially or totally block blood from flowing to the heart.

One of the consequences of coronary artery disease is the death of heart cells. The cells of the heart’s muscle die, which leads to a heart attack. Should this not occur, one is still at risk as depriving the heart muscles of oxygen, which means that the heart is less able to work at its most efficient capacity.

There are also situations where acute coronary syndrome doesn’t lead to muscle death but triggers unstable angina instead.

Risk factors of acute coronary syndrome

Since it all begins with fatty cholesterol deposits that form plaques on the artery walls, the risk factors for this cumulus of conditions are the same as they are with just about any other type of heart disease.

That being said, you are more likely to have this syndrome if you are of older age, if you have hypertension or high cholesterol levels, if you’re diabetic, eat a diet rich in calories and fats, smoke, don’t do any physical activities, have a family history of heart problems and angina, or are obese.

Diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome

For acute coronary syndrome, there are two different types of tests. The first set consists of preliminary tests, which will determine an initial diagnosis, after which the doctor may need to run some more tests.

The other preliminary test is the EKG. The electrocardiogram is a non-invasive test that measures the electrical impulses of your heart. Doctors apply a number of patches to your chest, legs, and arms, which are connected to a machine at the other end. By lying still on a table for a few minutes, the machine will pick up the electrical signals of the heart.

A cardiologist will examine the patterns that appear on your EKG, and they can interpret the results to see if there are certain patterns that could indicate a potential artery blockage.

Based on the information received from these two types of tests, doctors can choose to perform others, to better personalize your treatment, but also to rule out any other health problems that might be causing the same symptoms.

• An echocardiogram is often a go-to test because it uses the power of sound waves to take digital images of your heart. This will give the doctor information on the efficiency of your heart at pumping blood.
• A coronary angiogram is another test that might be performed for a more accurate diagnosis. This involves injecting a special dye in your bloodstream so that your vessel network becomes more visible during the X-rays. This can provide information on how blood circulated inside the arteries, thus revealing any blockages.
• Myocardial perfusion imaging is a type of test in which a radioactive substance is injected into the bloodstream. With the help of a special camera, doctors can record the path that the substance takes through the heart, showing if it’s receiving enough blood.
• A CT angiogram is based on X-ray tech and renders images of your heart so that the doctor can see if there are any coronary artery blockages.

Treatment of acute coronary syndrome

Much like every other type of urgent heart problem, treating acute coronary syndrome can have a prescription drug-approach, an emergency surgical intervention, or both. As far as medications are concerned, you will receive treatment based on the diagnosis.

You may be required to take thrombolytics (which are clot busters that aim to dissolve blood clots in the coronary arteries), beta blockers (which relax your heart), nitroglycerin (a class of nitrates that helps ease angina), ACE inhibitors (to widen blood vessels), ARBs (to control blood pressure), antiplatelet drugs (to prevent future blood clots), or statins (to lower cholesterol levels).

As far as surgeries are concerned, there are two options for those who have an acute coronary syndrome. The first one is an angioplasty, which is an invasive procedure that involves inserting a catheter all the way to the narrow section of the artery and then spreading it with the help of a balloon. Depending on your status, the doctor may also choose to place a stent, a permanent mesh tube that keeps the artery open.

The second intervention is an open-heart surgery known as a coronary artery bypass. It involves creating a new path for blood to take, a deviation from the blockage in the artery if you will. This procedure implies taking a healthy artery from somewhere else in the body and using it to create a new route for the blood to follow.

Conclusion

The most important part of heart health is preventative medicine. Since the acute coronary syndrome is basically a sum of different heart-related conditions, one must always focus on the lifestyle choices that could prevent such conditions from appearing in the first place.