Heart Disease

Overview
Signs, Symptoms & Causes
Common diseases
Tests
Treatment
Sources

Signs and Symptoms

Heart diseases may be acute or chronic. They may be transient, relatively stable, or progressive. They may cause a variety of signs and symptoms that frequently change and/or worsen over time. Chronic heart diseases can have episodes with acutely worsened symptoms; these may resolve (either on their own or with treatment), persist, or even become life-threatening. Patients with early heart disease may experience few or vague symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath with or without effort, dizziness, and/or nausea; however, these symptoms do not indicate the particular type of heart disease present. These symptoms may also be seen with a variety of other conditions. Other signs and complications that may arise from heart disease include:

Arrhythmia

Dilation – stretching of one or more of the heart chambers, causing their interiors to become larger because of increased pressure

Embolism – blockage of a blood vessel by material that has traveled from a distant body site, most often a blood clot, but it can be due to fat or air or even amniotic fluid

Inability to keep up with increased demands for oxygen and clearance of waste products, such as during physical activity

Infarction – death of muscle cells due to blockage of blood flow

Insufficient contraction – not emptying or filling completely

Pain, frequently due to ischemia – a lack of sufficient oxygen because of reduced blood flow

Regurgitation – a backflow of blood causing increased pressure on the blood vessels of the lungs and liver

Stenosis – a narrowing of the openings of the heart

Tissue death – permanent loss of heart tissue due to lack of oxygen, leading to scarring

Ventricular hypertrophy – increased thickness of the walls of the heart, causing a decrease in the size of the chambers and also a decrease in the flexibility of the heart

Heart diseases may be due to:

Alcohol use

Anabolic steroid use

Atherosclerosis

Autoimmune conditions

Bacterial infection

Cocaine use

Congenital abnormalities

Diabetes

Diet, especially when high in saturated fat and cholesterol

Hypertension

Injury or trauma

Sedentary lifestyle

Smoking

Thyroid dysfunction (under and overactive)

Toxins, such as mercury, and sometimes chemotherapy drugs or HIV/AIDS drugs

Viral infection