heart and blood vessel disorders
Drug Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease
Introduction
The heart muscle needs a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood. The Blood Supply of the Heart , which branch off the aorta just after it leaves the heart, deliver this blood. In an acute coronary syndrome, sudden blockage in a coronary artery greatly reduces or cuts off the blood supply to an area of the heart muscle (myocardium). The lack of blood supply to any tissue is termed ischemia. If the supply is greatly reduced or cut off for more than a few minutes, heart tissue dies. A heart attack, also termed myocardial infarction (MI), is death of heart tissue due to ischemia. There are many different reasons doctors give drugs to people with coronary artery disease: To relieve chest pain by reducing the heart's workload and widening arteries (nitrates) To prevent angina and acute coronary symptoms from occurring (beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and sometimesranolazine) To prevent and reverse coronary artery narrowing from atherosclerosis (angiotensin-converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitors,angiotensin IIreceptor blockers [ARBs], statins, and antiplatelet drugs) To open a blocked artery (clot-dissolving drugs, anticoagulants) 