Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among women

In the West, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in women, experts said at a press conference in medical imaging center Antony (Essonne) by GE Healthcare, involved in cardiology preventive.
Unavoidable risk factors?
This development is related to two main factors:

- Women attach greater concern to the health of their families;

- The sociological changes of the past 30 years have made the lifestyles of women have approached more than men. Stress, overweight, alcohol and cigarettes are a dangerous cocktail in cardiovascular risk.

In fact, one in three women now die of cardiovascular disease beyond 55 years, heart disease becomes disabling in 30% of cases. In addition, warning signs in women often prove different and much more misleading than men, resulting in sometimes fatal delays in diagnosis. The mortality rate after a heart attack is higher in female than male population.

Coronary artery disease: one cause of death
The coronary arteries supply which constantly beats on average 80 times per minute and shows a tremendous appetite oxygen to the heart muscle. By itself, it consumes 10% of the oxygen, the rest is used to feed the rest of the body. However, sometimes it comes to running out: this is called coronary artery disease.

The main risk factors are well known: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, physical inactivity and stress. These factors actively contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic plaque that is a mass of fat contributing to the progressive obstruction of the coronary arteries. They can not, under these conditions, ensure proper oxygenation infarction correctly.

In women, coronary artery disease manifested by angina or by a myocardial infarction.

Angina is retrosternal pain usually occurs on exertion, which may nevertheless be misleading or atypical discomfort, heaviness or pain in an arm or at the jaws associated with difficulty breathing, sometimes accompanied by nausea , vomiting, or even a discreet fever.

However, these symptoms are not as features, some women may even have a heart attack without symptoms (this is called a silent heart attack). The main risk in this case is that the heart is deprived of oxygen completely and partially necrotic. Depending on the location and extent of the lack of oxygen, stroke is more or less extended and muscle mass more or less destroyed.

In myocardial out, the mortality before the end of the first month is approaching 10%. However, most treatment is initiated early, more deadly risk is low. Today we talk about the first 6 hours, during which two specific approaches are particularly effective: thrombolysis (injection of a product to dissolve the blood clot came obliterate the artery responsible for the cardiac complication) and coronary angioplasty comprising passing a thin catheter into the blocked artery, in which can be placed a metal spring called "stent", to maintain the open coronary artery.

Prevention is better than cure
Through these therapeutic procedures, mortality in the acute phase of myocardial infarction is increased from 20 to 10% in 20 years. However, it is important in this area to focus efforts on prevention.

It consists of a series of simple steps to apply:

- Maintain a balanced diet low in fat intake;

- Do not smoke;

- Practice on a regular basis by performing physical activity, for example, moderate exercise for 30 minutes every day or almost

- Control stress by practicing yoga or any other relaxation technique.

An accurate diagnosis in real time
The Antony medical imaging center has the largest volume CT system in the world, the LightSpeed VCT 64-slice developed by GE Healthcare, able to complete the acquisition of images of the heart and coronary arteries in less than 5 beats. This tool provides a better visualization of the heart and easy diagnosis of heart disease.

Indeed, in less than 5 seconds (5 heartbeats), the radiologist obtains a perfect image of the target organs.

Thanks to a second system, the Innova 2100, the specialist who then practice angioplasty, can visualize the exact positioning of interventional devices. This unit allows, indeed, to see the finest vessels of the heart during positioning of the stent.