Sudden cardiac arrest. Heart disease What causes the heart to wear out

Grapefruit helps to reduce the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood. © Shutterstock

You want your heart to be healthy and work properly. Do not be lazy to strengthen the heart muscle.

What is good for the heart

1. Proper diet. The heart loves B vitamins, which improve fat metabolism. There are many of them in cereals, meat and offal. As well as vitamins C (citrus fruits, berries) and P (tomatoes, buckwheat, cabbage), which strengthen blood vessels. In addition, the heart constantly needs iodine - a lot in seafood.

2. Movement. The heart muscle is strengthened by regular exercise. For example, running, swimming, yoga, as well as hiking in the fresh air.

3. Stability. First of all, in emotions - from stress, the heart wears out twice as fast. It is important not to get upset over trifles and learn to “make lemonade out of lemon”.

4. Healthy sleep and rest. Chronic fatigue and constant lack of sleep harms the cardiovascular system. Therefore, try to sleep at least 8 hours a day, keep a diet (do not skip lunch in favor of the accumulated work) and rest for at least 1.5 hours after a hard day before starting household chores.

5. Breakfast. According to experts, people who are not accustomed to breakfast are significantly more at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Refusal of breakfast changes the metabolism - and the body begins to store fat. As a rule, the body tends to get the calories lost in the morning, moreover, in excess, due to harmful high-calorie and fatty foods.

What hurts the heart

Excess weight. It creates additional stress on the heart. A heart attack in obese people happens 4 times more often, regardless of age.

Smoking. Smoking a cigarette constricts arteries, increases heart rate, and burns up vitamin C. In addition, nicotine promotes blood clots.

Alcohol. Causes a sharp expansion and then narrowing of blood vessels, which wears out the heart.

food with cholesterol. As a rule, these are semi-finished products, fast food and fatty products of animal origin. Excess cholesterol is deposited in the vessels, preventing normal blood flow.

Everyone has had to experience the feeling that the heart is about to jump out of the chest. The reason for this can be a strong excitement, physical activity or fever (for example, with a cold), taking certain drugs. However, sometimes a rapid pulse can be pathological, that is, caused by diseases.

What are the causes of heart palpitations

If you do not consider the normal causes for increased heart rate described above, then only a few diseases that provoke tachycardia can be identified. However, these diseases are very dangerous. Let's list them.

Diseases associated with the cardiovascular system. Tachycardia may accompany such diseases as atrial fibrillation, cardiosclerosis, myocarditis, etc.
Problems in the field of endocrinology. Very often causes tachycardia diabetes mellitus, dysfunction of the thyroid gland. Also, a chronically rapid pulse is often observed with menopause.
Anemia.
Vegetovascular dystonia.

In addition to chronic tachycardia, attacks of rapid heart rate can also be observed with severe poisoning or dehydration.

How to recognize a fast heart rate

Of course, the surest way to find out if the pulse is fast is to measure it. However, a person does not measure his pulse around the clock, so it is important to know how to recognize a rapid heartbeat - the symptoms are usually quite obvious.

Darkening in the eyes. When the pulse rate is too high, there may be a darkening of the picture before the eyes. Some compare it to how old TVs are turned off: the screen does not turn black at once, but, as it were, fades gradually from the edge to the center.
Dizziness.
Headache, usually throbbing. Tremors are felt in the region of the temples, sometimes painful sensations are also noted in the region of the back of the head.

What threatens chronic tachycardia

Sometimes people tend to delay treatment, so it would be useful to find out how dangerous cardiopalmus. In addition to the fact that pathological tachycardia often indicates serious disorders in the body, it is also dangerous in itself. With a rapid heart rate, the heart works with an increased load, and, as a result, wears out much faster. As a result, you can acquire such ailments as heart failure, the risk of a heart attack also increases, and pulmonary edema may occur.

How is pathological tachycardia treated?

The first thing to do if there is a suspicion of tachycardia is to conduct a diagnosis in order to confirm this diagnosis. The most effective in this regard is the daily mounting of the ECG. The method consists in continuous taking of electrocardiogram readings and their further analysis. Such a study allows you to track the heart rhythm with great accuracy, possible jumps in this rhythm, etc. A general blood test and a blood test for hormones produced by the thyroid gland are also done to confirm tachycardia (in case the cause of the rapid heart rate lies precisely in the violation of the thyroid gland).

When the causes of tachycardia are identified, therapy can begin. First of all, with such a disease as increased heart rate, treatment involves the elimination of all factors that can lead to an increase in heart rate. Caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods and excessive physical activity are banned. Sometimes this becomes enough, but often tachycardia is treated with medication.

Drugs that help with heart palpitations can be divided into the following groups:

Sedatives, that is, drugs that have a calming effect. They are able to reduce the "gross" pulse, but do not affect the cause of the disease. Of herbal preparations, valerian, hermit and hawthorn are especially popular. From artificially synthesized drugs, Relanium and Phenobarbital can be used.
Antiarrhythmic. The mechanism of these drugs varies depending on what caused the increased heart rate, so you should consult a specialist before taking such drugs. So, with tachycardia of a ventricular and atrial nature, Ritmilen will help. Adenosine is most effective in the supraventricular form of the disease, etc.

How to avoid tachycardia

Cardiovascular diseases sometimes turn into very serious complications, because they are much easier to prevent than to treat. Some rules (which, by the way, are very simple to follow) will help keep the heart healthy.

Less worries. Severe stresses harm not only the psyche, therefore it is worth protecting yourself from situations that bring negative emotions.
Sports, sports and more sports. Although excessive loads can only harm, systematic, properly selected workouts will strengthen the body.
caffeine in moderation. Although coffee is sometimes great invigorating, but drinking it too often is not very good for the heart.
Rejection of bad habits. Alcohol and tobacco have an extremely negative effect on the heart and blood vessels, so it is advisable to stop using them.

Cardiac arrest is a complete cessation of ventricular contractions or a severe loss of pumping function. At the same time, electrical potentials disappear in myocardial cells, the pathways for conducting impulses are blocked, and all types of metabolism are quickly disrupted. The affected heart is unable to push blood into the vessels. Stopping blood circulation poses a threat to human life.

According to WHO statistics, 200,000 people around the world stop their hearts every week. Of these, about 90% die at home or at work before receiving medical care. This indicates a lack of public awareness of the importance of training in emergency measures.

The total number of deaths from sudden cardiac arrest is greater than from cancer, fires, traffic accidents, AIDS. The problem concerns not only the elderly, but also people of working age, children. Some of these cases can be prevented. Sudden cardiac arrest does not necessarily occur as a result of a serious illness. Such a defeat is possible against the background of full health, in a dream.

The main types of cessation of cardiac activity and the mechanisms of their development

The causes of cardiac arrest according to the mechanism of development are hidden in a sharp violation of its functional abilities, especially excitability, automatism and conductivity. Types of cardiac arrest depend on them. Cardiac activity can stop in two ways:

asystole (in 5% of patients);
fibrillation (in 90% of cases).

Asystole is the complete cessation of ventricular contraction in the diastolic phase (during relaxation), rarely in systole. The “order” to stop can come to the heart from other organs as a reflex, for example, during operations on the gallbladder, stomach, and intestines.

With reflex asystole, the myocardium is not damaged, has a fairly good tone

In this case, the role of the vagus and trigeminal nerves has been proven.

Another option is asystole against the background:

general oxygen deficiency (hypoxia);
elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the blood;
shifts in acid-base balance towards acidosis;
altered electrolyte balance (increase in extracellular potassium, decrease in calcium).

These processes, taken together, negatively affect the properties of the myocardium. The process of depolarization, which is the basis of myocardial contractility, becomes impossible, even if conduction is not impaired. Myocardial cells lose active myosin, which is necessary for obtaining energy in the form of ATP.

With asystole in the systole phase, hypercalcemia is observed.

fibrillation of the heart- this is a broken connection between cardiomyocytes in coordinated actions to ensure a general contraction of the myocardium. Instead of synchronous work that causes systolic contraction and diastole, there are many disparate areas that contract on their own.

The frequency of contractions reaches 600 per minute and above

In this case, the ejection of blood from the ventricles suffers.

Energy costs are much higher than normal, and there is no effective reduction.

If fibrillation captures only the atria, then individual impulses reach the ventricles and blood circulation is maintained at a sufficient level. Attacks of short-term fibrillation can end on their own. But such tension of the ventricles cannot provide hemodynamics for a long time, energy reserves are depleted and cardiac arrest occurs.

Other mechanisms of cardiac arrest

Some scientists insist on isolating electromechanical dissociation as a separate form of cessation of cardiac contractions. In other words, myocardial contractility is preserved, but not sufficient to ensure the pushing of blood into the vessels.

At the same time, there is no pulse and blood pressure, but the following are recorded on the ECG:

correct contractions with low voltage;
idioventricular rhythm (from the ventricles);
loss of activity of the sinus and atrioventricular nodes.

The condition is caused by inefficient electrical activity of the heart.

In addition to hypoxia, impaired electrolyte composition and acidosis, hypovolemia (a decrease in total blood volume) is important in pathogenesis. Therefore, more often such signs are observed with massive blood loss.

Since the 70s of the last century, the term "Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome" has appeared in medicine. Clinically, it was manifested by a short-term cessation of breathing and cardiac activity at night. To date, a lot of experience has been accumulated in the diagnosis of this disease. According to the Research Institute of Cardiology, nocturnal bradycardia was found in 68% of patients with respiratory arrest. At the same time, according to a blood test, pronounced oxygen starvation was observed.

The device allows you to record the respiratory rate and heart rate

The picture of heart damage was expressed:

in 49% - sinoatrial blockade and stop of the pacemaker;
27% -;
19% - blockade with atrial fibrillation;
in 5% - a combination of different forms of bradyarrhythmias.

The duration of cardiac arrest was recorded for more than 3 seconds (other authors indicate 13 seconds).

During the waking period, none of the patients experienced fainting or any other symptoms.

Researchers believe that the main mechanism of asystole in these cases is a pronounced reflex effect from the respiratory organs, coming through the vagus nerve.

Causes of cardiac arrest

Among the causes can be distinguished directly cardiac (cardiac) and external (extracardial).

The main cardinal factors are:

ischemia and inflammation of the myocardium;
acute obstruction of the pulmonary vessels due to thrombosis or embolism;
cardiomyopathy;
high blood pressure;
atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis;
disturbances of a rhythm and conductivity at defects;
development in hydropericardium.

Extracardiac factors include:

oxygen deficiency (hypoxia) caused by anemia, asphyxia (suffocation, drowning);
pneumothorax (the appearance of air between the layers of the pleura, unilateral compression of the lung);
loss of a significant amount of fluid (hypovolemia) with trauma, shock, incessant vomiting and diarrhea;
metabolic changes with a deviation towards acidosis;
hypothermia of the body (hypothermia) below 28 degrees;
acute hypercalcemia;
severe allergic reactions.

Pneumothorax of the right lung sharply displaces the heart to the left, with a high risk of asystole

Indirect factors that affect the stability of the body's defenses are important:

excessive physical overload of the heart;
elderly age;
smoking and alcoholism;
genetic predisposition to rhythm disturbances, changes in electrolyte composition;
suffered electrical injury.

A combination of factors greatly increases the risk of cardiac arrest. For example, alcohol intake by patients with myocardial infarction causes asystole in almost 1/3 of patients.

The negative impact of drugs

Drugs that cause cardiac arrest are used for treatment. In rare cases, intentional overdose has been fatal. This should be proven to the judicial authorities. When prescribing drugs, the doctor focuses on the age, weight of the patient, diagnosis, warns of a possible reaction and the need to re-see a doctor or call an ambulance.

The phenomena of overdose occur when:

non-compliance with the regimen (taking pills and alcohol);
intentionally increasing the dose (“I forgot to drink in the morning, so I’ll take two at once”);
in combination with folk methods of treatment (St.
carrying out general anesthesia against the background of incessant medication.

The use of St.

The most common causes of cardiac arrest are:

hypnotics from the group of barbiturates;
narcotic drugs for pain relief;
groups of β-blockers for hypertension;
drugs from the group of phenothiazines prescribed by a psychiatrist as a sedative;
tablets or drops of cardiac glycosides, which are used to treat arrhythmias and decompensated heart failure.

It is estimated that 2% of cases of asystole are drug related.

Only a specialist can determine which drugs have the most optimal indications and have the least properties for accumulation, addiction. Do not do this on the advice of friends or on your own.

Diagnostic signs of cardiac arrest

Cardiac arrest syndrome includes early signs of a near-death state. Since this phase is considered reversible during effective resuscitation, every adult should know the symptoms, since a few seconds are allowed for reflection:

Complete loss of consciousness - the victim does not respond to a shout, braking. It is believed that the brain dies 7 minutes after cardiac arrest. This is an average figure, but the time can vary from two to eleven minutes. The brain is the first to suffer from oxygen deficiency, the cessation of metabolism causes cell death. Therefore, there is no time to argue how long the brain of the victim will live. The sooner resuscitation is started, the greater the chance of survival.
The inability to determine the pulsation on the carotid artery - this symptom in diagnosis depends on the practical experience of others. In its absence, you can try to listen to heartbeats by putting your ear to the bare chest.
Impaired breathing - accompanied by rare noisy breaths and intervals of up to two minutes.
"Before our eyes" there is an increase in the change in skin color from pallor to blue.
The pupils dilate after 2 minutes of cessation of blood flow, there is no reaction to light (narrowing from a bright beam).
The manifestation of convulsions in individual muscle groups.

If an ambulance arrives at the scene, then asystole can be confirmed by an electrocardiogram.

What are the consequences of cardiac arrest?

The consequences of circulatory arrest depend on the speed and correctness of emergency care. Prolonged oxygen deficiency of organs causes:

irreversible foci of ischemia in the brain;
affects the kidneys and liver;
with vigorous massage in the elderly, children, fractures of the ribs, sternum, development of pneumothorax are possible.

The mass of the brain and spinal cord together is only about 3% of the total body weight. And for their full functioning, up to 15% of the total cardiac output is necessary. Good compensatory capabilities make it possible to preserve the functions of the nerve centers with a decrease in the level of blood circulation to 25% of the norm. However, even indirect massage allows you to maintain only 5% of the normal level of blood flow.

Consequences on the part of the brain can be:

partial or complete memory impairment (the patient forgets about the injury itself, but remembers what happened before it);
blindness accompanies irreversible changes in the visual nuclei, vision is rarely restored;
paroxysmal cramps in the arms and legs, chewing movements;
different types of hallucinations (auditory, visual).

Statistics show actual resuscitation in 1/3 of cases, but full recovery of the functions of the brain and other organs occurs only in 3.5% of cases of successful resuscitation

This is due to the delay in assistance in a state of clinical death.

Prevention

Cardiac arrest can be prevented by following the principles of a healthy lifestyle, avoiding factors that affect blood circulation.

Rational nutrition, quitting smoking, alcohol, daily walks for people with heart disease are no less important than taking pills.

Control over drug therapy requires remembering about a possible overdose, slowing of the pulse. It is necessary to learn how to determine and count the pulse, depending on this, coordinate the dose of drugs with the doctor.

Unfortunately, the time to provide medical care in case of cardiac arrest is so limited that it is not yet possible to achieve full-fledged resuscitation in the community.

Sometimes they ask how many times to repeat the exercises - 5, 7, 10? It is practically impossible to give such a recipe, and even in absentia, without knowing the gender, age and state of health of a person. Even the attending physician, who knows his patient, can only give a very approximate answer. Imagine that today you woke up with a headache, malaise. Then even the usual number of exercises, which yesterday was within our power, will become excessive and will not bring any benefit. Therefore, each time you should focus on your well-being, the capabilities of the body and remember that too few repetitions will be insufficient, but too many can be fatal.

One of the patients shared his misfortune: “Being completely healthy, I decided to do athletic gymnastics. But I had enough, despite the fact that I still have strength, for three classes: there was pain in the joints, my left leg was swollen, my hands work with difficulty, periodic severe pain in the region of the heart. You see, even a practically healthy person, if he immediately starts with maximum loads, can undermine his health: shortness of breath, palpitations, and pain in the heart will appear ... How to be?

We must adhere to the principle of gradualism. Recall the popular saying: "Everything is a medicine, everything is a poison, only a measure is needed." And this measure is different for everyone, and no one can measure it more accurately than the person himself. Therefore, each of us should strive to know ourselves more deeply, to listen to what our own body suggests, to identify all its reserve capabilities.

An important question that a person must answer for himself is why his heart fell ill, refused to work. Of course, if the disease is congenital, this is one thing. But why, being healthy at birth, did the heart become diseased?

Based on new knowledge about the role of skeletal muscles in blood circulation, we can say that in most cases the heart becomes! unreliable in those people who were brought up from birth in conditions of reduced motor activity - destructive hypokinesia, which led to the underdevelopment of the helpers of the heart - skeletal muscles, and it began to wear out faster and be subject to diseases.

Skeletal muscles have long been considered organs of movement, labor and sport. And in relation to blood circulation, they were listed only as consumers. Indeed, during work they consume blood 60-80 times more than at rest. Isn't that a palpable burden on the heart? Following this logic, motor rest should serve as protective for him. It has become widespread in medical practice. But it turned out to be by no means protective, but, on the contrary, fatal, because a decrease in motor activity, and even more so motor rest, leads to a weakening of the micropumping function of skeletal muscles, and the heart, deprived of its helpers, has to strain unnecessarily. That is why early optimal physical activity and exercise therapy, which are prescribed taking into account the nature of the disease and the capabilities of the patient's body, are increasingly being used in cardiology practice. According to the observations of clinicians, patients who have had a myocardial infarction recover the faster the sooner they begin to move.

The heart must be protected in the same way as we all strive to protect the nature around us and properly use its resources and wealth. A person can control the work of the heart and vascular tone only indirectly with the help of skeletal muscles obedient to his will. The suggested exercises will help you with this. It is with them that I would advise you to start a complex of morning exercises.

So, the first exercise is the training of the chest, abdominal and diaphragmatic pumps. Sit on a stool or ottoman and fasten your socks. Turn your torso to the right, to the left, lean back to a horizontal position and sit down again. At the same time, the internal organs are rhythmically squeezed and massaged; from the liver and spleen, deposited blood cells - erythrocytes and leukocytes - are released into the bloodstream.

The second exercise is squats, hands on knees. They serve as an excellent training for the muscles of the lower extremities. To facilitate the filling of the heart with venous blood, it is desirable to keep the torso in a horizontal position during squats.

The third exercise is training the skeletal muscles of the hands. Do a variety of movements: spreading your arms to the sides, circular movements in the shoulder and elbow joints, flexion and extension at the elbows. Men can do all of these exercises with dumbbells. If there are no dumbbells, you can do push-ups with your hands while standing against the wall or lying on the floor.

The fourth exercise is self-massage of the neck, base of the skull and head, auricles.
The fifth exercise is self-massage of the legs and arms, starting from the periphery towards the heart. For those who suffer from varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, skin diseases, self-massage is contraindicated.
The sixth exercise is walking.

The seventh exercise is jogging.
All exercises must be done in the given sequence. You need to start with several repetitions and gradually, carefully increase their number to 100 or more times, but on condition that there are no discomfort in the heart area. This means that the skeletal muscles switch to self-sufficiency in blood, and in this state they become excellent assistants from the "dependents" of the heart, facilitating his work and giving him the opportunity to improve himself.

Having made the complex in the morning, you can be sure that almost all heart assistants have earned, facilitating its activity. But after some time, the peripheral "hearts" must again be activated by these exercises, preferably several times a day.
The achieved level of fitness, the volume and intensity of movements must be maintained constantly, because with long breaks, the micropumping function of the skeletal muscles decreases and everything will have to be started all over again.

People working in conditions of professional hypokinesia (in particular, those who spend the whole day at a desk, driving a car, on a conveyor, etc.) need to move more and use any opportunities for this. For example, in public transport it is better not to sit down, but to stand, balance with your whole body and make your muscles work. If you live high up in a high-rise building, try to walk up first to the second, third floor, and then take the elevator further up. After a while - to the fourth, fifth floor, etc. Soon you will see that it is easy for you to climb the stairs. Here you have the necessary daily training of heart assistants without gyms and sports facilities. And if you start breathing deeply while approaching the house, saturating the blood with oxygen, then shortness of breath when climbing the stairs will not come so soon, and subsequently it will not be at all.

The main thing is to believe in yourself, in the inexhaustible hidden possibilities of your body, understand the ways and means of restructuring and improving your lifestyle, and use this knowledge to improve health, longevity and active creative activity.

Atrophy of the heart muscle is a pathological process that does not have an inflammatory nature, as a result of which a change occurs in the structure of myocardial cells. The second name of this disease is myocardial dystrophy. It occurs due to a violation of metabolic processes and leads to a weakening of contractility, as well as other functions of the myocardium and the development of heart failure.

Such a pathology is most often found in older people, since the processes in the body at this time begin to slow down, a gradual involution occurs in all organs and systems. In this case, this process affects not only the heart muscle. But muscle atrophy in the heart can also occur as a result of certain diseases.

Causes of atrophic changes in the heart

All the reasons why cardiac muscle dystrophy can develop can be divided into two categories - congenital and acquired. A direct change in the cellular structure of heart cells is observed in congenital cardiomyopathies, the origin of which is still not well understood.

There are also a number of pathological processes underlying the development of myocardial dystrophy, which occur in the process after birth. These include:

Intoxication. Occurs as a result of acute or chronic poisoning of the body with tobacco, alcohol, drugs, drugs, junk food, industrial substances and other toxic compounds that enter the body.
Infection. Often, atrophy of the heart muscle occurs against the background of an acute viral (influenza, Coxsackie virus) or chronic infection. Especially often complications on the heart give constant inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx.
ischemic heart disease. Occurs as a result of chronic myocardial ischemia against the background of severe coronary atherosclerosis.
Excessive overload (in athletes and people of physical labor). It appears as a result of a constantly increased load on the heart, with which it cannot cope. This is expressed in a violation of oxygen metabolism, including in cardiomyocytes.
Deviations in the work of the endocrine organs (thyrotoxicosis, hypothyroidism).
Chronic anemia, beriberi, starvation.
metabolic disorders and obesity.
Physical inactivity.
Pathological processes in the liver and kidneys.
Psychosomatic deviations.
Violation of the digestive system (liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, pancreatitis).

How myocardial atrophy manifests itself and its diagnosis

With the development of atrophy of the heart muscle, especially in the initial stages, there may be no signs of the disease. But most often, patients complain of chest pain on the left, the occurrence of shortness of breath during exercise. There is a feeling of palpitations or interruptions, severe weakness and decreased ability to work.

Symptoms of atrophy of the muscles of the heart also appear in the form of edema, which, along with shortness of breath, is a fairly reliable sign of the development of heart failure. The weakening of the suction function of the heart leads to congestion in the veins of the lower extremities, the leakage of plasma through the venous wall and results in the phenomenon of swelling, which increases in the evening and decreases in the morning.

Pulmonary disturbances manifest as increased shortness of breath and the appearance of a cough with copious sputum at night. This is due to the influx of blood from the lower extremities when the body moves to a horizontal position, and an increase in the load on the heart. During coughing, traces of blood can be found in the sputum, this is due to overflow and rupture of the bronchial veins.

In advanced cases, discomfort in the right hypochondrium joins, this is due to stagnation of blood in the liver and stretching of the capsule of this organ, and then ascites (fluid in the abdominal cavity) appears.

Rhythm disturbances that accompany dystrophic processes in the myocardium occur due to the death of cells in the conduction system of the heart. In this case, there are many ectopic foci of excitation, causing bradycardia, and various kinds of arrhythmias.

With the progression of dystrophic changes, all symptoms intensify, swelling does not go away even at night, and shortness of breath is already disturbing at rest.

To clarify the diagnosis, a general examination is carried out, aimed at identifying the cause that led to the disease of atrophy of the muscles of the heart. To do this, a full range of standard studies is done - general blood and urine tests that will help identify the presence of a chronic infection, assess the level of hemoglobin. If atherosclerotic changes in blood vessels are suspected, a lipidogram is prescribed.

To assess the work of the conduction system and the presence of ischemic changes in the myocardium allows ECG and Holter monitoring. On echocardiography with myocardial dystrophy, an expansion of the cavities of the organ and a decrease in contractile function are determined. Such a study allows you to see cicatricial changes, if any.

If the reasons for the development of atrophy of the heart muscle are associated with endocrine pathology or other diseases, then the patient is prescribed a consultation of narrow specialists to clarify the diagnosis and supplement the necessary drugs and recommendations to the complex of therapeutic measures.

Methods of therapy and prevention of atrophy of the heart muscle

Treatment of the disease in old age is the use of symptomatic therapy and maintaining myocardial function.

When the underlying disease is identified, it is necessary to direct all efforts to eliminate it or transfer it to the remission stage; sanitation of foci of chronic infection is an obligatory step.

Atrophic processes in the heart muscle tend to be reversible only in the initial stages of the process. Therefore, timely seeking help and adequate treatment can lead to a full recovery.

Of the drugs designed to improve the metabolism of myocardial cells, multivitamins, ATP, trimetazidine preparations, mildronate are most often prescribed.

Effective treatment of myocardial muscle atrophy is possible only at the initial stage of the process. In the future, any therapy performs only a supporting function. The patient needs to comply with the regimen of the day, limit the load, good nutrition with salt restriction with severe edema.

Of the medications in the development of heart failure, in any case, ACE inhibitors are prescribed (to protect the target organs and improve the clinical condition of the patient), with severe swelling, diuretics are used. In small doses, the appointment of cardiac glycosides is indicated, and with the development of atrial fibrillation, they are the drugs of choice. Sometimes it is recommended to use beta-blockers.

Accession of angina pectoris requires the use of peripheral vasodilators (nitrates), pronounced rhythm disturbances are stopped by antiarrhythmic drugs, in case of a heart attack, it is mandatory to take aspirin or indirect coagulants to prevent thrombosis of the coronary vessels. Statins are often used to control cholesterol levels, as well as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.