Diseases of the cardiovascular system
The cardiovascular system can be affected in many different ways and cause many different diseases. The most common disease of the cardiovascular system is high blood pressure (hypertension).Normally the blood pressure should be below 120/80 mmHg, with high blood pressure the values are pathologically elevated and in the worst case even reach peak pressures of well over 160/110 mmHg. This is very dangerous for the vascular system and the organs, since the high pressure can cause vessels to tear and in the long run lead to organ damage.
High blood pressure is treacherous, as those affected often do not notice the disease. The high pressures are then noticed by a random measurement. All cardiac arrhythmias are also diseases of the cardiovascular system.
If the heart beats too slowly (bradycardia) or too fast (tachycardia) or gets out of rhythm due to other rhythm disturbances, this can have negative effects on the organism. In atrial fibrillation, for example, a blood clot can form in the left atrium of the heart, which can be ejected from the heart secondarily and trigger strokes or embolisms. The blood clot can block important vessels supplying the brain, so that the corresponding area of the brain is no longer supplied with blood.
The clinical manifestation of this blockage is called a stroke (apoplexy) and can lead to permanent damage to the brain. Myocardial infarction and cardiac insufficiency are also among the diseases of the cardiovascular system. In the case of a heart attack, the occlusion of a coronary vessel leads to a reduced supply of blood to the heart muscle.
This causes the affected tissue to die and can lead to a weak pumping of the heart, cardiac arrhythmia or even cardiac arrest. Cardiac insufficiency refers to a cardiac insufficiency in which the heart is no longer able to circulate sufficient volume through the body. As a result, the heart is usually enlarged and ineffective in its function.
A cardiovascular disease that mainly affects the arterial vessels is the so-called pAVK (peripheral arterial occlusive disease). This disease causes plaque to accumulate on the vessel walls, which leads to a narrowing of the vessel. Depending on the severity of the disease, the vessel can also be completely blocked, causing the affected tissue to die.
In most cases, PAVK starts at the legs. In the case of slight vascular calcification, the affected patients initially do not notice anything. Later, pain occurs when walking, which increasingly forces patients to stop walking.
In the late stage, the pain is also present at rest and the tissue with poor blood supply begins to die. Risk factors for PAD are, for example, high blood pressure, high blood fat values, diabetes mellitus and smoking. Oxygen-rich blood flows from the left ventricle of the heart, driven by the heartbeat, into the main artery (aorta) and from there is distributed throughout the body in the various large arteries.
The vessels branch out further and further until the blood reaches the cells in the smallest vessels of the body, the capillaries. In the capillaries, oxygen, nutrients and hormones are released to the target cells, and in return, metabolic waste products and carbon dioxide are absorbed and transported away with the blood. The spent blood is collected in the body’s veins, which eventually join together to form the superior and inferior vena cava and lead to the right atrium.
From here, the blood reaches the right ventricle and is then pumped into the two lungs (see Lung). In the lung, too, the vessels divide again down to the level of capillaries, where gas exchange then takes place. The now oxygen-rich blood reaches the heart again via the two pulmonary veins (now: left atrium) and can now supply cells with oxygen again and thus return to the large circulation of the heart lung.
The sequence of the vessel sections through which the blood flows (artery–capillary–vein-heart and again from the front) is almost always maintained. There are few exceptions where a second capillary network follows before the blood returns to the heart. In this case one speaks of a portal vein system. It occurs in the: A congestion in the portal vein system, e.g. due to cirrhosis of the liver (blood can no longer flow through the scarred liver), a high pressure develops in this system, which is called portal vein hypertension
- Liver
- Pituitary Gland
- Adrenal gland
