What Are the Heart Arteries and What Impact Can They Have on a Heart Attack?

Certain heart arteries are responsible for sending blood to all parts of the body while other heart arteries are responsible for returning it to the heart where the cycle can begin again. Terms such as aorta (away), pulmonary artery (away), inferior vena cava (to), superior vena cava (to), pulmonary veins (to), and descending aorta (away) are well known to your cardiologist but for the rest of us these heart arteries and veins are not all that well known, with the possible exception of the aorta.

How do the heart, arteries, and veins really work?

For this information we will be forced to turn to the AMA Encyclopedia for answers. Let's quickly go back to high school anatomy/biology class for a quick refresher course.

The pulmonary veins deliver oxygen rich blood from the lungs and deposit it into the left atrium of the heart. Then the atrium channels the oxygen rich blood into the left ventricle, where it is pumped through the main artery of the body, the aorta. The aorta divides into smaller arteries that carry blood to every organ and tissue in the body. At the same time, the body's tissue deposit waste material into the blood. The oxygen depleted blood is pumped back into the right atrium, where it s channeled to the right ventricle. The right ventricle pumps blood into the pulmonary artery and then to the lungs, where waste material leaves the blood as carbon dioxide and oxygen enter.

Who would have thought so much is going on silently in our heart arteries and veins!

What can go wrong to cause a heart attack?

Put simply a blockage. Most often the blockage that is responsible for a heart attack is caused by a blood clot that forms at a site where a coronary artery has been narrowed by atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of coronary heart disease.

Atherosclerosis is a condition that is also known as hardening of the arteries. Its evolution revolves around the formation of artery plaque deposits (cholesterol, dead cells, fibrous tissue, calcium) that build for years finally resulting in partial or total blockage of one or more arteries. Blockage of heart arteries are a particularly serious problem since the blood has few alternatives to reach its destination. In other words rerouting, while not impossible, is not likely.

What can I do to make sure my heart arteries don't get blocked?

There are a number of factors that may contribute to atherosclerosis in the heart arteries. This list includes smoking, being overweight, a family history of early heart attack, high blood pressure, inactivity, and diabetes.

Obviously heredity is something that can't be changed. Also, conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure can only be managed. So in trying to avoid a heart attack certain people definitely have a bigger hill to climb than others.

Additionally, there are genetic diseases such as hypercholesterolemia and hyperlipidemia which flood the body with artery clogging cholesterol and blood fats that may require a lifelong regime of medications just to minimize the damage.

On the other hand there are a few factors that we can change. These would include not smoking, shedding those extra pounds that have secretly been accumulating around the waistline, participating in doctor approved exercise 5 or more day a week, holding saturated fat intake under 7 percent (16 grams) per day, and utilizing supplements to help assure our success.

Robert D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of natural health and natural living with over 10 years experience in the field.