What is angina all about? What is a heart attack? And what exactly is a heart failure? How do they occur? What are the symptoms? And what are the treatments?

At a time when the number of people suffering from heart problems is on the increase, it is necessary to get informed about them so that precautions can be taken before we fall a victim to any of them or, if we are already suffering from any cardiac ailment, we can increase our understanding and thus be better armed to cope with it. The more ignorant we are about heart diseases, the more will we live in nagging fears and doubts as well as dangerous misconceptions.

?Heart health at your fingertips? by Dr Graham Jackson (B. Jain Publishers Ltd., New Delhi. 2000, by special arrangement with Class Publishing, London) aims to provide information about the practical problems of coronary artery disease, its prevention or treatment.

<B>Risk factors and treatments</B>

First we need to know the major risk factors for heart disease. The author, under avoidable risk factors, classifies smoking (including passive), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise and stress. Under unavoidable risk factors, we?ve family, diabetes, and getting older.

The book, written in the form of question and answer (which gives it a down-to-earth, conversational tone) informs us that ?angina is the result of a temporary shortage of oxygen available in the heart muscle, usually caused by exercise or strong feelings. Angina pain usually passes off when you stop activity or shortly after taking a ?nitrate? tablet. Angina results from narrowed coronary arteries.? Angina pain is characterised by tightness, pressure, weight on the chest, heaviness and constriction. A heart attack, on the other hand, is different. ?The pain build-up is more severe, lasts longer and does not decrease when you stop any activity (?) A heart attack is caused by an artery blocking off, usually when a clot forms on a narrowed area.?

The book, meant for the layman, details the tests involved and the treatments currently given in straightforward language. The reader who has a vague idea of what an electrocardiogram and what electrodes applied to the arms and the legs and across the chest when the patient is resting or on a treadmill (to examine the heart?s electrical activity) are all about will certainly find it easier to understand with the help of the illustrations accompanying the text.

Another interesting feature is that some medical terms, which otherwise might have been difficult to pronounce accurately, are written out as they are pronounced: plaque (plack), systolic (sis-tol-ick), diastolic (die-a-stol-ick), claudication (claw-di-ca-shun), brachial artery (brake-e-al), triglycerides (tryglisir-ides), stenosis (sten-oh-siss), myocardial infarction (myo-car-dee-al al in-fark shun), trombolysis (throm-bo-lie-siss), eodema (ee-dee-ma), syncope (sin-co-pee).

<B>Reassurance</B>

A word like pacemaker is very likely to instil fear in a patient. However, the general tone of the book is reassuring, sympathetic and polite rather than alarming. ?A pacemaker?, says the author, ?is all about correcting a problem and allowing you to lead a normal active life?. Or ?Life should not be restricted just because of a pacemaker?.

Patients who have undergone surgery or who have been treated for cardiac complaints especially worry about their sex life. ?As you recover from a heart attack and return to normal activities, you should be able to return to the normal activity of sex.?

Much precious information is given about heart failure, palpitations and valvular disease, without forgetting the right kind of food and appropriate exercises for patients.

The book allays the fears of many a patient ? and the public in general. And we know that fears can often worsen matters. The author recommends that patients must not be afraid of heart disease, for ?most people can lead full and active lives a result of modern treatments.? On the condition, obviously, that there?s a switch to better lifestyle.

Where necessary, he makes an analogy to clarify an idea: ?Think of an artery like a garden hose pipe: if you turn the tap on, water flows easily ? now clamp the pipe to reduce its size by half and water will need more pressure to get through to give the same flow.? Similarly, if your arteries narrow down the pressure needs rising to force the blood through. Such an analogy helps immensely in understanding the point he?s making about blood pressure.

A list of addresses of at least 40 international organisations is provided for additional information, including the British Heart Foundation (14 Fitzhardinge St., London W1H 4DN; Tel 017 935 0185; Fax 0171 486 5820).

A manual, however informative and useful, cannot replace medical advice. Both the author and the publisher make it a duty to point out that any person requiring medical attention needs to consult a doctor.

This book may be borrowed from the Curepipe Carnegie Library.

<B>Suresh RAMPHUL</B>