Keeping fit
The heart is a unique pump
By B. K. Sharma The Tribune Sunday, August 12, 2001
I just returned after attending an international conference
on cardiovascular diseases at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The conference was organised under the aegis of the
International Society of Heart Research and I had the honour
of being invited to speak on an area of cardiovascular
disease in which I have been deeply interested for the last
many years. A distinctive feature of this conference which
made one feel proud was that the conference was organised by
two distinguished scientists of the Indian origin, both
hailing from Punjab. Prof Niranjan S. Dhalla, who was the
Chairman of the conference, hails from a village near Batala
and Dr Pawan
K. Singhal, who was the organising secretary, comes from
Malerkotla and is a product of the Department of
Biophysics, Panjab University.
Heart disease is already the No. I killer in the developing
world and even at the global level it is soon going to
replace diarrhoeal and resporatory diseases as the top
killer diseases. Therefore, a frantic race is on to find
solution to the epidemic and the conference reflected that
activity. Our country is also in the grip of this disease
and younger and younger people are falling victim to disease
for various epidemiological reasons.
The trouble that is tuberculosis July 15, 2001 Why people
get infections in the hospital July 1, 2001 Beat the heat
before it beats you June 3, 2001 Facing the ultimate reality
of life May 20, 2001 Bitter truths about ‘sweet killer’ May
6, 2001 How to cope with stress April 22, 2001 All that
stress can do March 25, 2001 Acute abdominal emergency: A
ticking bomb February 25, 2001 Importance of eye care in the
elderly February 11, 2001 Not only years to your life but
life to your years January 14, 2001 Breast cancer: Early
detection is the key December 17, 2000
Exercise for health, fitness and more December 3, 2000 More
answers November 19, 2000 A question of answers November 5,
2000 The ABC of Vitamin C October 29, 2000
When the kidneys fail October 8, 2000 Put on your walking
shoes October 1, 2000
Physiology of the heart
It is worthwhile to know certain basic facts about the
anatomy and physiology of the heart before we talk about the
afflictions of this very sturdy yet sensitive organ. It is
amazing how recent our knowledge about cardiovascular
physiology is.
Heart is probably the most efficient, durable and self-
sustained pump ever devised by Nature. A healthy heart beats
anywhere between 60-80 times a minute amounting to 1,00,000
times a day and nearly 35 million times a year. Anybody can
calculate as to how many times the heart would have beaten
in a person living up to 100 years without maintenance and
lubrication. Heart is a conical organ placed somewhat
obliquely in the chest behind sternum between two lungs and
in front of the food pipe and the spine. It has four
chambers separated by a set of valves which allow the blood
to flow in one direction only. The two sets of small
chambers are known left and right atrium and the big
chambers are known as left and right ventricles. The left
ventricle is the strongest and the biggest chamber which
pumps fresh oxygenated blood into the biggest artery of the
body, aorta. The blood reaches every nook and corner of the
body, delivers nutrients and oxygen to the tissues and
returns via the veins (bluish in colour and seen
superficially under the skin) bringing with it the waste
products of the body and carbon-dioxide generated by tissue
respiration.
This blood comes back to the right side of the heart and the
right ventricle pumps this into the lungs where the oxygen
is imbibed and the carbon-dioxide delivered to the lungs and
finally breathed out. This relatively small pump measures
12x9x6 cm and weighs nearly 250 - 350 gm
its work with such precision and automatic rhythm that one
marvels at the ingenuity of Mother Nature. The automatic
contraction is initiated and controlled by the electrical
system of the heart which generates the electrical impulses
which traverse through various chambers in a systematic
manner. These chambers contract not only rhythmically but in
a very programmed manner so that blood flows across the
chambers to the body and back to the lungs in a very
coordinated manner.
On an average, about 5 litres of blood is pumped every
minute by the heart and this is known as the cardiac
output. But there is an automatic increase and decrease
depending upon the need of the body at a given time —
exercise for instance.
Before we go on to the coronary artery disease itself, I
would like to define certain diseases which are referred to
in relation to the heart. Some of these are overlapping and
create confusion for the layman.
Congenital disease
This refers to various defects in the development of the
heart which can take place and be present at birth or after
sometime. These defects may include relatively minor defects
like a hole between two chambers or an abnormal
communication between two major arteries. But this can
present a major defect and the child may be blue right at
the birth. The heart may be occasionally placed on the right
side of the chest.
Valvular disease
In this group of diseases the main defect is that one of the
valves of the heart, may be either narrow so that blood
cannot easily flow through it or a valve may be incompetent
and leak after the contraction of the chamber behind it. The
defect in the valve may also be congenital sometimes. But
the major cause of these valvular diseases in our country is
rheumatic fever. In this group of diseases from which both
children and young adults suffer from, the commonest valve
involved is the mitral valve which separates the left atrium
and left ventricle. This group of diseases plays havoc in
case of young females during pregnancy.
Hypertensive disease
In this disease, the heart is affected by continuous high
blood pressure and prominently leads to thickness of the
left ventricle and if not checked properly can lead to heart
failure and other problems.
Pericardial disease
The heart is enclosed in a thin sheath known as pericardium.
This can get inflamed due to diseases like tuberculosis and
the fluid may collect around the heart producing difficulty
in contraction and can sometime create an emergency
situation where the blood flow to the heart is impeded.
Heart-lung diseases
In this group of diseases, chronic inflammation of the lung,
as in the case of smokers, flow of blood from the right side
of the heart to the lungs is not free and produces
congestion in the right side of the heart. This leads to
what is known as right side failure with congestion of the
liver and swelling of the feet.
Ischaemic heart disease
Ischaemia implies that there is not enough oxygen
supplied to a particular tissue. If the coronary
arteries, cannot deliver the blood to the heart in a
required amount, the heart suffers from ischaemia,
producing various syndromes like:
Angina:The patient may be symptomatically free while resting
but during physical exertion or emotional disturbances or
any other activity requiring extra oxygen, the blood supply
is not enough and the patient gets pain. The pain may occur
in the chest and radiate to the left arm and sometimes to
the right arm, the neck or upper abdomen. The anginal pain
should get relieved on resting.
Myocardial infarction (heart attack): In this syndrome,
the lack of blood supply produces not only pain like
angina but goes on producing necrosis or death of a
particular portion of the heart, thus producing
irreversible damage to that portion. In this syndrome the
pain lasts longer, is often more severe and accompanied by
a sense of weakness and sweating. There may be a state of
confusion, fall in blood pressure or a frank state of
shock. Unfortunately, many times such an attack can prove
fatal right in the first episode.
Unstable angina: This is the condition which may be
considered to be between a simple stage of angina and the
myocardial infarction. Here the anginal pain becomes very
frequent, comes on minor provocation and may show more ECG
changes. This condition should be taken seriously both by
the patient as well as the doctor.
Ischaemic heart disease can sometimes be totally painless
and thus misleads the patient and the doctor. This happens
more often in diabetics and the elderly persons.
Diseases of the conduction system of the heart: This is a
broad group of diseases in which problem may lie in the pace-
maker or the conduction system of the heart as described
above. This may be a simple missing of the beat or very
rapid or irregular heart rate.
In the next column we will discuss the genesis of coronary
artery disease and ischaemic heart disease and what can be
done about it.
Read the complete news at: tribuneindia.comtribuneindia.comOpen ↗
Jai Maharaj mantra.comjaiOpen ↗ Om Shanti
WARNING ABOUT KEVIN 'BEAVIS' MAXFIELD (MEDICAL FRAUD)
Advisory
Kevin Maxfield aka "Beavis" aka "Beav" who is a self-
publicized patient of diabetes has committed serious
crimes by dispensing medical advice to other patients on
numerous occasions. He has published his contact
information as follows:
Kevin "Beavis" Maxfield 106 Churchill Drive Little Lever
Bolton BL3 1PG UK
"Beavis" <[email hidden]> "Beavis"
<[email hidden]> "Beavis"
<[email hidden]>
Picture:
homepage.ntlworld.comme.jpgOpen ↗
Also, a picture of Britt, with the caption: "When she ain't
cookin my meals she does find time to fly a heli!" h-h-Open ↗
omepage.ntlworld.com/kevin.maxfield/pictures/britt.JPG
Forwarded message: [ [ Subject: Beav is a liar. Beware of
advice he gives you! [ Message-ID:
<[email hidden]> [ From: Dennis Fetters
<[email hidden]> [ Newsgroups:
misc.health.diabetes [ NNTP-Posting-Host: 67.122.164.63 [
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 19:08:38 GMT [ [ Greetings news group
participants, [
[ Lam sending this news to all newsgroups that the person [
Beav <[email hidden]> participates in, [
especially that involves medical advice. You need to be
[ concerned taking any medical advice from him
whatsoever. [ Why? [ [ Over the years this person has
flamed me and others, told [ lies and did harm all in
the name of fun. This person [ could just as easily give
you improper medical advice and [ sit back and laugh for
the fun of it. Beware of him, he [ may act nice and
helpful but there is an evil side. [ [ Just to help
prove what I'm saying, I have given evidence [ below of
just one lie he was caught making. I'm posting [ this so
that from now on you can measure anything he has [ to
say with what his words are actually worth. Beav is a [
liar. I have proven without a shadow of dough that Beav
[ is a liar. Sure, it is a small lie this time, but what
[ about all the ones before, or after? [ [ On
02/04/2003, you posted on the rec.aviation.rotorcraft
news group: [ > Beav wrote: [ > He's also over on the
R/C heli group looking for ideas [ > on how to build > a
big RC machine which he SAYS is [ > destined for
military (unmanned) use. [ [ That was an out in out lie.
I never said such a thing. He [ made it up and lied to
everyone there. [ [ What I said is below: [ [ On
01/30/2003, I posted on rec.models.rc.helicopter: [ >
Dennis Fetters wrote: [ > Hello, [ > [ > We have lot's
of experience building full size [ > helicopters, but
little knowledge in the RC field and [ > what's
available. [ > [ > I have been contracted to provide a
customer with two [ > large (400 pounds empty) prototype
helicopters to be [ > flown by remote control. It is a
CCPM controlled [ > configuration. I need to find
servo's that are large [ > enough to handle at least a 5
pound resistance per [ > arm, with a 3" travel. [ > [ >
The control rods go through the center of the drive [ >
shaft and connect to the control gimble below the [ >
transmission, where 3 arms are located for both cyclic [
Quoted message said:and collective inputs for the CCPM configuration. The
[ > best solution would be 3 linear servo's, if
something [ > preexists. [ > [ > Rather than reinvent
the wheel, I hope someone would [ > be kind enough to
provide me information on where to [ > find servo's
large enough to do the job, or if a [ > linear servo can
be used. The response time of these [ > large
helicopters are much less than that of an RC [ > model.
[ > [ > Also, if someone of high experience in RC
helicopters [ > is interested in providing some help
with the flights, [ > we're located in the California LA
area. [ > [ > Sincerely, [ > [ > Dennis [ [ No where in
this or any post did I say "it is destined [ for
military (unmanned) use". Beav lied about that. [
[ Mknow some of you here will say, well, it was just a [
little lie. Well, any lie is a lie, big or small, and [
Beav lied and has done much worse. He told this lie to
[ hurt and do as much damage as he could, and it's time
for [ all who deal with him to know. He has proven his
[ willingness to lie and harm people just for fun, so [
anything he says could be a lie or to cause more damage
[ for his entertainment. [ [ Beav is a liar. Beware of
advice he gives you! [ [ - Dennis Fetters
<[email hidden]> [ Archived at:.com/groups?selm=3E4BECF9.80308%40sbcglobal.net&oe=UTF-
8&output=gplain
End of advisory
Panchaang for 30 Phalgun 5104, Saturday, March 20, 2004:
Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Uttarayane Moksh Ritau Meena Mase
Shukl Pakshe Manta Vasara Yuktayam Poorvaprostapad-
Uttaraprostapad Nakshatr Shukl Yog Naag-Kinstughn Karan Amavasya-
Pratham Yam Tithau
Hindu Holocaust Museum mantra.comholocaustOpen ↗
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