Angina pectoris

Angina pectoris

Angina pectoris is the most common form of chronic ischaemic heart disease. Stable angina pectoris is usually caused by atherosclerotic narrowing of a coronary artery. The oxygen demand can be increased by exercise or stress, resulting in an oxygen supply/demand imbalance due to impaired coronary blood flow.

Therapy of angina aims to restore the balance in oxygen supply and demand.

Different drugs can induce vasodilation of coronary arteries (e.g. calcium antagonists, nitrates) and decrease contractility, heart rate, and cardiac output (e.g. ß-blockers, nitrates, calcium antagonists). ACE inhibitors are often added to the therapy because they prevent death from myocardial infarction.

Besides this symptomatic treatment, reduction of arteriosclerosis is required. Aspirin or platelet aggregation inhibitors and lipid-lowering drugs are used for this purpose.

1

Which of the following factors can a patient avoid in order to reduce the risk of angina?

2

Which of the following is NOT a pathophysiological cause of acute anginal pain?