What Is CAD? Coronary artery disease (CAD) starts with a buildup of fatty deposits in the lining of the arteries supplying blood to the heart. Due to this process -- called atherosclerosis -- the narrowed arteries can't keep up a healthy flow of blood to the heart. As CAD worsens, heart function is increasingly affected. CAD is sometimes called "hardening of the arteries."

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Symptoms of CAD
Many patients with CAD have few -- if any -- symptoms until their heart function is seriously affected. Symptoms of CAD include:

next: Who's At Risk?

Who's At Risk?
CAD, or heart disease, affects nearly13 million Americans and is the leading cause of death of both men and women in the U.S. If you have any of the following risk factors, your doctor can help you reduce their impact on your risk of developing this disease. Important risk factors that you can change include:


Ask your doctor about risk factors that can't be changed, such as a family history of CAD.

next: Anatomy

Normal Heart/Vessel Anatomy Located in the chest between the lungs, the heart is the strongest muscle in the body. Its function is to receive oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pump it out through various arteries to all the organs of the body. Three main coronary arteries supply blood to the heart: the right coronary artery (RCA), the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, and the circumflex (Cfx) artery.

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next: Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis Plaque Formation | Coronary Artery Blockage and Heart Attack In atherosclerosis, cholesterol carried in the blood builds up fatty deposits (plaques) in the artery lining over time. The resulting artery narrowing, called a stenosis, can eventually reduce blood flow to the heart.

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Plaque Formation Plaque formation and stenosis take place over a period of years. The process begins with the formation of a fatty streak that can appear as early as adolescence. Doctors describe an individual patient's stenosis by its extent. This is represented as a "narrowing percentage." This image shows a 95% stenosis.

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Coronary Artery Blockage and Heart Attack As coronary artery narrowing progresses, the risk increases that a clot will form on top of the plaque and totally block the artery. This keeps oxygen and vital nutrients from the heart muscle, and the affected tissues die (called an infarct). The heart can no longer function, and a heart attack (myocardial infarction, or MI) results.

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next: Treatment

How Is CAD Treated?
Medications | Angioplasty | Stent | Coronary Bypass Surgery | Research Continues

Risk Factor Modification
The main approach to both preventing and treating CAD first involves identifying the patient's risk factors (see "Who's at Risk"). The next step is for the patient to change as many CAD risk factors as possible, such as stopping smoking, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and controlling diseases that contribute to CAD, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

Medications
Various medications can also help to slow the progression of CAD and improve heart function. These include cholesterol-lowering drugs to reduce plaque buildup, aspirin to thin the blood and reduce the risk of blood clot formation and artery blockage, and drugs to control high blood pressure and diabetes.

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Angioplasty Used to treat advanced CAD, angioplasty involves inserting a tube (catheter) into the coronary artery and inflating a surgical balloon at the point of stenosis. This helps restore the natural artery opening and increases blood flow.

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Stent Sometimes a special mesh-like device called a stent is left in place after the angioplasty to help keep the artery open and the blood flowing to the heart.

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Coronary Bypass Surgery When angioplasty is not advisable for treating a patient's advanced CAD, coronary artery bypass may be done. This surgical procedure creates a new route for blood flow around the stenosis using either a piece of vein (graft) from the patient's leg or an artery from the chest (graft) to effectively "bypass" the narrowed coronary artery segment.

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Research Continues
Effective treatment of coronary artery disease is the subject of ongoing and intensive medical research. As new discoveries are translated into useful therapies, products, and services, WebMD will incorporate these advances into its related programs.

If you or someone you love needs to know more about coronary artery disease, please consult a physician. If you need to find a physician, try our Find a Physician Channel. For more information about coronary artery disease, visit our Heart Disease Condition Center.

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