About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffCoronary artery disease develops when your coronary arteries — the major blood vessels that supply your heart with blood, oxygen and nutrients — become damaged or diseased. Cholesterol-containing deposits (plaques) on your arteries are usually to blame for coronary artery disease.
When plaques build up, they narrow your coronary arteries, causing your heart to receive less blood. Eventually, diminished blood flow may cause chest pain (angina), shortness of breath or other coronary artery disease symptoms. A complete blockage can cause a heart attack.
Because coronary artery disease often develops over decades, it can go virtually unnoticed until it produces a heart attack. But there's plenty you can do to prevent and treat coronary artery disease. Start by committing to a healthy lifestyle.
- Coronary artery disease. National Lung, Heart, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Cad/CAD_WhatIs.html. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Morrow DA, et al. Chronic coronary artery disease. In: Libby P, et al., eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50057-1&uniq=198193047&isbn=978-1-4160-4106-1&sid=989729689. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Toth PP, et al. Coronary artery disease. In: Rakel RE. Rakel: Textbook of Family Medicine. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/198193047-17/0/1481/455.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2467-5..50041-5--cesec46_2228. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Hall SL, et al. Secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. American Family Physician. 2010;81:289.
- Wilson PWF. Overview of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Body composition tests. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4489. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Heart disease. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/heart-disease/. Accessed April 29, 2010.
- Grogan M (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 7, 2010.
- Lovett E, et al. Advising patients about herbs and nutraceuticals: Tips for primary care providers. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice. 2010;37:13.
Find Mayo Clinic on