Ischemic heart disease includes heart attack and related heart problems caused by narrowed heart arteries that reduce the amount of blood and oxygen reaching the heart. One of the symptoms of ischemic heart disease is angina, which is chest discomfort caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscle caused by blocked arteries.
New research indicates angina is a more serious health problem than previously believed.
We've successfully been doing balloon angioplasty since the 1970s. Now we are using vascular stents as structural supports. These small wire mesh devices are placed on the end of a balloon-tipped catheter and advanced to the position of the blockage where they are opened and locked into position keeping the vessel open after being stretched by the balloon. On the surgical side, avoiding the heart-lung machine is proving beneficial to the patients. There has been a breakthrough in the management of angina with the development of a new drug called ranolazine - the first new angina medication in 10 years, Thames noted.