Angina

Angina is a common chest pain symptom that can be caused by many different kinds of conditions.

There are plenty of causes that require quick medical attention such this disease, a heart attack, and etc. However, there are chest pains that may not require immediate attention such as inflammation of the chest walls, spasm of the esophagus, or gallbladder attack. Making the accurate diagnosis is very important to provide the patient with the proper treatment.

Below we will be discussing the diagnosis, treatment of angina, and there symptoms. It is never too late to find out more information on this critical condition, so you are taking the first step to diagnosing your condition.

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Angina which is known as (angina pectoris - Latin for squeezing of the chest) is a chest discomfort that occurs when there is a decreased amount of blood oxygen supply to an area of the heart muscle. In just about most cases, the lack of blood supply is because of a narrowing of the coronary arteries as a result of arteriosclerosis.

These symptoms are normally felt as:

Pressure	Heaviness
Tightening	Squeezing

This pain however, can also radiate from the neck, to the jaw, arms, back, and even also the teeth.

Patients may also suffer from the following as well:

Indigestion	Heartburn	Weakness
Sweating	Nausea	Shortness of breath

These symptoms normally occurs during any types of exertions, severe types of emotional stress, or even after a heavy meal. During these periods exertions, your heart muscle demands more blood oxygen than what your narrowed coronary arteries is able to deliver.

These symptoms lasts from about 1-15 minutes and is relieved by resting or by placing a nitroglycering tablet right under the tongue. Nitroglycerin relaxes the blood vessels and also lowers an individuals blood pressure. Resting and or taking nitroglycerin decreases the heart muscles demand for oxygen which relieves angina.

There are two classified types of Angina and that is "Stable" and "Unstable".

Stable angina

Stable is the most common type that individuals have. People with stable type has symptoms on a regular basis, the symptoms are predictable such as walking up the stairs causes chest pain. In most patients, these symptoms lasts no more than five minutes. These symptoms are relieved by resting or by taking medication such as nitroglycerin.

Unstable angina

Unstable is a less common, but a more serious problem. These symptoms unpredictable and are more severe. The unstable pains are occur more frequently, last much longer, and occurs at rest. These problems is not relieved by nitroglycerin.

Unstable is different then a heart attck, but it may feel similar to the point where you will have to go to an emergency room to do some cardiac testing.

Exercise stress test

Patients that has a normal resting EKG test, exercise stress testing can be a useful tool for discovering if you have coronary artery disease. During a stress test, an EKG recordings of the heart are continuously performed as a patient walks on a treadmill or pedals on a stationary bike at increasing the levels of difficulty.
 
The accuracy of an exercise stress test in diagnosing coronary artery disease is about 60%-70% accurate. If the stress test does not show any signs of coronary artery disease, a nuclear agent known as thallium can be given through the veins during a stress test.

A reduced amount of blood flow in a certain area of the heart during exercise with a normal blood flow to the area during rest, signifies significant artery narrowing in a certain region of the heart.

CT coronary angiogram

CT coronary angiogram is a procedure that uses an intravenous dye that contains iodine, and this is used for a CT scanning to view the coronary arteries. However, the use of catheters is not necessary, but there are still some risks involved during this process.

Here are some of the risks including the following listed below:

• Patients being allergic to iodine.
  
• Patients with an abnormal kidney function.
  
• Radiation exposure which is similar to, if not greater than, that received with a conventional coronary angiogram.

Nevertheless, this test is safe for most people. It is a major tool in diagnosing of coronary artery disease:

• Individuals in high risk for developing coronary disease.
  
• Individuals that have an unclear result when previously taken the exercise stress test.
  
• Individuals who have symptoms suspicious of coronary disease.