Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 25 views

    Secondary Prevention Oct 2011

    Uploaded by

    Vikas Saini, MD
    This document discusses medications that are important for secondary prevention of heart disease. It outlines four key classes of medications: beta-blockers, which lower heart rate and blood pressure; anti-platelet agents like aspirin, which prevent dangerous clots; statins, which lower cholesterol and reduce risks of death and heart attack; and ACE inhibitors, which stabilize the heart after damage and may prevent further attacks. When used together, these classes of medications have significantly reduced risks and allowed many heart patients to live long, productive lives.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Secondary Prevention Oct 2011

    Uploaded by

    Vikas Saini, MD
    25 views1 page
    This document discusses medications that are important for secondary prevention of heart disease. It outlines four key classes of medications: beta-blockers, which lower heart rate and blood pressure; anti-platelet agents like aspirin, which prevent dangerous clots; statins, which lower cholesterol and reduce risks of death and heart attack; and ACE inhibitors, which stabilize the heart after damage and may prevent further attacks. When used together, these classes of medications have significantly reduced risks and allowed many heart patients to live long, productive lives.

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document discusses medications that are important for secondary prevention of heart disease. It outlines four key classes of medications: beta-blockers, which lower heart rate and blood pressure; anti-platelet agents like aspirin, which prevent dangerous clots; statins, which lower cholesterol and reduce risks of death and heart attack; and ACE inhibitors, which stabilize the heart after damage and may prevent further attacks. When used together, these classes of medications have significantly reduced risks and allowed many heart patients to live long, productive lives.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    25 views1 page

    Secondary Prevention Oct 2011

    Uploaded by

    Vikas Saini, MD
    This document discusses medications that are important for secondary prevention of heart disease. It outlines four key classes of medications: beta-blockers, which lower heart rate and blood pressure; anti-platelet agents like aspirin, which prevent dangerous clots; statins, which lower cholesterol and reduce risks of death and heart attack; and ACE inhibitors, which stabilize the heart after damage and may prevent further attacks. When used together, these classes of medications have significantly reduced risks and allowed many heart patients to live long, productive lives.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    health

    FROM THE HEART DOC


    bleeding, but at the wrong place and wrong time inside an artery, they can trigger a heart attack. A daily aspirin reduces this risk and prevents heart attacks in those with heart disease. Everyone with coronary disease should take it unless there are strong reasons to avoid it (allergy, excessive bleeding).

    health
    At the Lown Center, we promote the value of effective medications in the management of coronary disease in its stable phase. Using aggressive management with medicines, many of our patients have lived long and productive lives without resorting to the unnecessary risk and expense of surgeries or stents. In our practice we have found that using surgery as a last resort for most patients yields excellent results both in terms of longevity and quality of life. Recent large clinical trials have conrmed the approach we have advocated and practised for over 30 years. VS

    Living with Heart Disease


    If you are already aficted with a heart condition, heres our series on secondary prevention for you to stay well
    MY TOP TIP

    Whether you are on one type of medication or other, make sure to follow diet restrictions and exercise regularly as advised by your physician to keep safe.

    PHOTOGRAPH BY: BENN GROVER, EDITOR PROCOR

    DR VIKAS SAINI is a clinical cardiologist and researcher at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School
    of Public Health. He is president of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation in Boston. Write to him at [email protected].

    00

    SHUTTERSTOCK/INDIAPICTURE

    PREVENTION takes many forms. Primary prevention is certainly the best: to avoid the condition completely. In the case of heart disease, the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque can indeed be prevented through diet, exercise and stress reduction, though in our modern life this is difcult and requires diligence and focus. However, after heart disease strikes, what we call secondary prevention becomes key. When plaque builds up, heart attacks and death may follow. But in recent decades mortality from cardiac disease has declined in the West. Why? The list includes changes in diet (especially in the composition of dietary fats), healthy habits (exercise, smoking cessation), and the improved ability of hospitals to treat heart attacks and other unstable events. New and better procedures, such as

    emergency stents, have their role too. But drugs play a critical part. Researchers have developed medications that are quite effective in stabilising coronary disease. Indeed, one estimate is that up to 40% of the reduction in mortality we have seen in recent years can be attributed to various drugs. What are the important medications if one has known coronary heart disease? Four broad classes are central: anti-platelet agents, beta-blockers, cholesterol-lowering statins and ACE inhibitors.

    Beta-blockers

    These block the effects of adrenalin, a hormone that stimulates the body for ght or ight. In heart disease, this otherwise useful function can increase complications and death. Betablockers reduce heart rate and BP and stabilise the electrical system.

    Statins

    Anti-platelet agents

    One of the longest-used and best-known medicines, aspirin is an excellent example. Well known for its role in the reduction of fever and pain, in heart disease aspirin prevents clots. Clots are useful to stop wounds from

    These are well known for their cholesterol-lowering effects. While doctors debate their role in primary prevention, there is no doubt that almost all those with coronary artery disease (CAD) should take a statin if they can tolerate it. While the mechanism by which they work has not been fully identied, they clearly lower rates of death and heart attack in those with CAD.

    ACE inhibitors

    A family of BP medications, these stabilise the heart after damage from a heart attack. There is also some evidence suggesting they may prevent recurrent attacks. Moreover, their mechanism of action involves important cellular pathways linked to mechanisms of ageing. They are thus an important addition to most

    medical programmes for heart disease. Each of these classes of medications reduces risk signicantly. In combination, they have led to remarkable improvements in longevity. Compared to the dismal prognosis when I was in medical school, todays patients can enjoy healthy, active lives even after a diagnosis of heart disease.
    PREVENTION OCTOBER 2011

    OCTOBER 2011

    PREVENTION

    00

    You might also like