Introduction to the treatment of coronary heart disease

    The principle of treatment of coronary heart disease is to improve the blood supply to the coronary arteries and reduce the oxygen consumption of the heart muscle, as well as to treat and prevent the development of atherosclerosis. Treatment methods include drug therapy, reperfusion therapy, and heart transplantation. Specific therapeutic measures should be chosen according to the specific conditions of the patient. Zou Long, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Baotou Central Hospital: The aim is to improve the blood supply to the coronary arteries and reduce the oxygen consumption of the myocardium. It mainly refers to the treatment with single or combined application of drugs under the guidance of physicians according to the patient’s condition.  1. Treatment during the onset of angina pectoris: The coronary arteries should be rapidly dilated during the onset to increase the blood supply to the myocardium, improve the status of myocardial ischemia and prevent myocardial necrosis due to ischemia. Take nitroglycerin: take 1 tablet of nitroglycerin (0.3-0.5 mg per tablet) under the tongue after chewing, and the angina will be relieved after 1 to 2 minutes, if the pain is not relieved after 5 minutes, take another tablet. Take cardiac pain: It can treat and prevent angina attacks and anti-arrhythmic effects. Use 1 to 2 tablets each time, and change to 1 tablet 3 times a day after the symptoms are relieved.  2. Conventional drug treatment: treatment in remission.    a) Dilate coronary arteries with nitrates and herbal combination.    b) Apply calcium antagonists and β-receptor organizers to relieve coronary spasm and reduce myocardial oxygen consumption.    c) Application of ACEI class to reduce cardiac afterload. Reperfusion therapy: i.e. to take methods to recanalize the occluded coronary arteries, restore myocardial perfusion, salvage ischemic myocardium and reduce the infarct area, thus improving hemodynamics and restoring blood supply to the heart. There are three main methods.  1. Tethering therapy: It is to dissolve the thrombus by intravenous injection of thrombolytic drugs to achieve the purpose of recanalization of the infarct-related vessels. This method is mainly applied within 12 hours of onset and is less expensive than interventional treatment, but the revascularization rate is slightly lower and there is a certain risk of bleeding.  2. Interventional therapy: The basic principle of interventional therapy is to place a balloon catheter through a vascular puncture into the stenosed vessel and expand the balloon under pressure outside of the body to open the narrowed vessel wall and restore patency to the diseased vessel. This technique is applied to the human coronary arteries to ensure the patency of the coronary arteries, increase the blood supply to the myocardium, and reduce the rate of death caused by myocardial infarction and other diseases.  3. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG): The main principle of CABG is to use its own vessels (internal mammary artery, radial artery, right gastroretinal artery, saphenous vein) to establish a bypass (“bridge”) between the aorta and the diseased coronary artery so that the blood in the aorta is perfused directly across the narrowed part of the vessel to the distal end of the stenosis, thus restoring blood supply to the heart muscle. Heart transplantation: Heart transplantation should be performed early when coronary artery disease is advanced and drug therapy is ineffective; when surgical or interventional treatment cannot correct, repair, or relieve the disease; or when there is recurrent, life-threatening heart failure or arrhythmias with a high risk of death within one year. Basic normal function of other organs will ensure or improve the success rate of the procedure.