rought on by the overexertion of the body. The most common of all coronary diseases is the term heart attack. This is potentially very serious. It causes many deaths. It can easily be summarized by saying that a heart attack is the formation of a blood clot on top of a plaque in an artery, causing the blood supply to be cut off to a part of the heart. It occurs when this area is so deprived of blood, it cannot function. This is called a myocardial infarction in medical terms. Heart attacks tend to occur with little or no warning at all. In some cases, patients who have had heart attacks have claimed to have a wave of fatigue rush over them before the heart attack. The rate of survival of heart attack victims is climbing. In 1989, according to the American Medical Association, only 8 to 15 percent of heart attack victims, who got to the hospital, died within three weeks. There is treatment for this. An enzyme called streptokinase is put into the coronary by way of a catheter, and over 80 percent of cases with blocked arteries were opened again. Heart valve disorders are commonly diagnosed as the failure of the valves to open or close properly. These disorders fall into two groups. The first disorder is when a valve fails to open correctly. This obstructs the forward flow of the blood, and is called stenosis. The second is when the valves fail to close properly. This causes a leakage of blood. These valves are referred to as incompetent. The aortic and mitral valves are more commonly affected by this valve disorder. Aortic stenosis is the most common heart valve disorder in the United States. It affects men more often than women. Aortic insufficiency is less common valve disorder. Heart muscle disease is when the pericardium is affected. This disease is referred to as cardiomyopathy and myocarditis. In some cases the heart may be affected by a tumor. The primary disorder affecting the pericardium is an inflamma...
