Calcified arteries- what is the significance? – By Dr Harold Gunatillake Calcium deposition in arteries shows how much fatty build-up or plaque formation. Plaques, especially in your coronary arteries, are the leading cause of heart attacks, and when a piece of these plaques breaks off, a blood clot can form around it, blocking the flow of blood, and the heart muscles will be deprived of oxygen. Coronary artery calcification is a buildup of calcium that can predict your cardiovascular risk, as all plaques get calcified with time. Cardiologist depends on ECG tracings during exercise on a treadmill machine to check on the degree of blockage of coronary vessels, shown by the ST segment changes. The presence of calcified plaques is visible on CT scans, and the number of such spots can be counted and given as a coronary calcium score. This is referred to as the calcium score, which measures ...

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Doctor, I am having chest pain, worried about it? By Dr Harold Gunatillake You are not the only one. Most of us, when we pass the 60th year, slightest chest pain become a worry and cause anxiety. Seven million people around the world die from heart attacks every year and is the world’s leading killer. This video presentation will unravel some of the issues of chest pain. You may experience some muscular pains and cramps after a few stretches in your gym work or physical exercises. That sort of pain will subside within days. What we are concerned is about recurrent chest pain arising due to conditions within the chest. Chest pain appears in many forms, and you should be able to describe it to your doctor to clinch a preliminary diagnosis It ranges from a sharp stab to a dull ache. Sometimes you feel it is crushing or burning. ...

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