Heart disease

Heart disease is a general term for conditions that affect the working of the heart.

Such as (some of these terms may overlap):

• Cardiomyopathy - disease or deterioration of the heart muscle which can cause arrhythmia or tachycardia and may result in sudden cardiac death.
• Cardiovascular disease - diseases that directly affect the heart and/or the veins and arteries that supply blood to the heart and may be caused by diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol or hypertension
• Coronary heart disease - a condition which can lead to a myocardial infarction (heart attack) that may be fatal, or angina pectoris (chest pains).
• Ischaemic heart disease - disease where there is a restricted blood flow to the heart.
• Heart failure - or congestive cardiac failure, a condition whereby the heart fails to fill with enough blood or pump it adequately around the body.
• Hypertensive heart disease - heart disease caused by high blood pressure.
• Inflammatory heart disease - inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium), heart lining (endocardium), valves or the surrounding tissue.
• Valvular heart disease - disease of one or more of the valves of the heart. This may be a congenital birth defect or a condition acquired later in life.