Angiology: Open Access
Open Access

Angina Pectoris: Types and Its Diagnosis

Hong-Hee Won^{* *}Correspondence: Hong-Hee Won, Department of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Email:

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Description

Angina is otherwise called as angina pectoris. The medical term for chest pain or discomfort brought on by coronary heart disease is called angina pectoris. Angina frequently develops, when the heart muscle requires more blood than it's receiving, such as during physical exercise like climbing stairs or hills, or when the person is experiencing powerful emotions. When the need for oxygen is low, such as when the person is sitting, severely restricted arteries may allow enough blood to reach the heart, but angina can also happen when the person is at rest. This typically occurs as a result of ischemia, which is the narrowing or blockage of one or more cardiac arteries. In the middle of the chest, angina typically produces painful pressure, fullness, squeezing, or discomfort feeling. The ache could also be felt in the neck, jaw, shoulder, back, and arm. The person might feel like a heavy weight present on their chest. Angina can cause either a new pain that has to be checked out by a doctor or a persistent pain that gets better with treatment. Although angina is common, still it can be hard to differentiate from remaining types of chest pain, like indigestion or discomfort.

Types of angina

Each type depends on the underlying issue and whether rest or medicine helps to reduce symptoms.

Stable angina: The most common type of angina is stable angina. Exertion usually triggers it, and it normally reduces by taking rest or by angina medicine. Angina, for instance, may cause pain while the person is walking uphill or in cooler weather. Pain from stable angina is expected and also seems to be similar to pat episodes of chest pain. The chest pain usually continues to stay for a short period of time possibly for five minutes or less.

Unstable angina: Unstable angina is unpredictable and can attack when the person is at rest. Or the angina discomfort is getting worse and requires less physical activity. It usually lasts for at least 20 minutes and is more severe than stable angina.

Neither relaxation nor the typical angina drugs relieves the pain. If the blood flow doesn't get better, the heart becomes oxygenstarved and suffers a heart attack. An urgent medical response is necessary for unstable angina.

Variant angina: It is commonly known as Prinzmetal angina, which is a heart condition unrelated to coronary artery disease. It is brought on by a spasm in the arteries of the heart, which significantly lowers the blood flow. The primary symptom of variant angina is severe chest discomfort. It frequently occurs in cycles usually at rest or overnight. Angina medication can reduce the pain.

Refractory angina: The episodes of angina are repeated even with a combination of medications and lifestyle changes.

Diagnosis

EKG: This test evaluates the electrical activity and rhythm of the heart.

Stress test: This test measures how the heart responds to physical exercise.

Blood tests: The physician will look for troponin-containing proteins. When the heart muscle gets damaged, like in a heart attack, several of troponins are released. The doctor might also ask to do more other tests like the metabolic panel or Complete Blood Count (CBC).

Imaging tests: Chest X-rays help rule out other disorders like lung diseases that could be the source of the chest pain. Images of the heart can be produced by echocardiograms, CT scans, and MRIs to aid the doctor in identifying issues.

Cardiac catheterization: The doctor inserts a lengthy, thin tube through an artery in the leg and threads it up to the heart for examining the blood flow and the blood pressure of the person.

Coronary angiography: During a coronary angiography, the doctor injects a dye into the heart's blood vessels. The dye makes an image of the blood vessels to appear on an X-ray. This method might be carried out during cardiac catheterization.

Conclusion

Chest pain is a symptom which affects differently for each person, which can also cause other symptoms like aching, burning, discomfort, dizziness, fatigue, a feeling of fullness or pressure in the chest, a stomach pain or feel like vomiting, difficulty in breathing, squeezing, and sweating. Males frequently have pain in their shoulders, neck, and chest. Women may experience soreness in their back, throat, jaw, or neck. Older age, a family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, stress, smoking, and insufficient exercise are some of the risk factors for angina that are more prevalent.