Patient: Hello, recently my mother felt tightness in her chest and pain inside her rib cage. She had an EKG and the doctor said she had some coronary artery insufficiency. My mother fell down on her bike last year and has been taking medication and hospitalized, is it possible that the medication has damaged her heart? The doctor said she has some coronary artery disease, what should my mother do now? Should she take medication? Or is it a preventive diet? Thank you! Doctor: ECG is of limited value to diagnose coronary artery disease, unless it is done at the time of attack. The usual ECG with ST-T changes does not necessarily mean that the coronary arteries are undersupplied with blood. It is recommended that your mother have an exercise plate ECG first, if it is OK, then coronary artery disease is less likely. I don’t know if the fall hurt the chest at that time, or even if it didn’t, costochondritis etc. can have similar pain, but there is usually local pressure pain. In addition, other diseases such as esophagus and stomach need to be excluded. If the exercise flat panel ECG is positive, then further myocardial nuclear scan or coronary angiography is needed to further clarify the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, of which coronary angiography is the most accurate. If the diagnosis of coronary artery disease is confirmed, depending on the results, either surgical treatment (stenting or bypass, depending on the lesion) or conservative treatment with medication can be chosen. The former can open up the stenosis of the vessel and improve the symptoms more significantly, but it is more expensive and very few people may have restenosis. Drug conservative treatment is slightly less effective, mainly to reduce symptoms, stabilize the disease and slow down the progression of coronary artery disease. Regardless of which treatment is given, attention should be paid to lifestyle improvements – a healthy diet (less greasy and overly salty, more vegetables, etc.). There are more popular science propaganda about this, so I won’t repeat them here), quit smoking and drinking, control weight, be properly active, keep your mood relaxed, and also treat combined risk factors of atherosclerosis such as hypertension, high blood pressure or hyperglycemia, all of which are very important to slow down the development of coronary heart disease.