The hot searing pain you are experiencing in your chest might just be a heart burn, but what if the pain in your chest is telling you that your heart is in trouble instead?
Here are some common signs of heart-related chest pain and why heart surgery may be necessary to help alleviate it.
Apart from the common heart burn, a chest pain could tell you that your heart needs serious attention due to two conditions: clogged arteries and mild or severe heart attack.
Heart-related chest pain is called angina. If you are experiencing angina, you will notice the following:
While heart-related chest pain is not life-threatening, you should consider it as a sign that you could experience a heart attack in the future.
A heart attack happens when your heart muscles get damaged due to the lack of blood flowing into your heart. When your arteries are clogged, it makes the passageway too narrow for the blood to reach certain areas of the heart.
To ease your heart-related chest pain and reduce your risk of heart attack, your cardiologist may recommend heart surgery to bypass the clogged artery.
A coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is a heart surgery that serves as a first line of treatment for clogged arteries. Essentially, this heart surgery grafts in healthy artery from your arm or chest to bypass the clogged artery and allow blood to flow to your heart.
Your cardiologist will examine how bad the clog in your artery is and if necessary, would recommend a CABG heart surgery.
CABG is a major heart surgery and requires you to be placed under general anesthesia. The duration of this heart surgery procedure is usually three to six hours.
After a CABG heart surgery procedure, you will be moved to the ICU and then to a recovery room. Your hospital stay will be from 5-6 days, and you will be discharged with home care instructions.
To make sure that you’re in the pink of health, always make it a point to get a yearly heart check-up. Talk to your cardiologist at the Harley Street Heart & Cancer Centre to find out about keeping your heart well; and to learn more about how CABG heart surgery can help alleviate your chest pain and reduce your risk of heart attack.
Remember, a CABG heart surgery does not guarantee that you will never experience heart-related chest pain again. However, your cardiologist will be able to recommend ways to you start on a heart-healthy lifestyle. By quitting your smoking habit, increasing your exercise activities, and eating healthier foods, you will lower your risk of getting chest pain and heart attack.