How Can Heart Disease Lead To A Stroke?

Have you been diagnosed with heart disease? If your answer to this question is a yes, then it is important to understand that an untreated heart ailment can cause serious health problems. You must keep up with all recommended appointments with your doctor and adhere to the lifestyle changes suggested even if you don’t have severe symptoms and your day-to-day life is not hampered. This is because poor management of heart disease increases the risk of stroke.

Heart Diseases That are Associated with Stroke

When you visit the best cardiology hospital in Chennai, the specialist will tell you that heart disease can lead to a stroke, a condition wherein the blood supply to the brain is reduced or interrupted. Healthy and regular blood flow from your brain are essential to ensure the supply of oxygen and nutrients for your body to function normally. Your heart’s role in ensuring proper blood flow to your brain becomes impaired when you develop a heart condition, and this increases the risk of a stroke. Having said that, the types of heart conditions that can potentially increase stroke risk include:

Heart Rhythm Abnormalities or Arrhythmias 

A healthy heart maintains a steady heartbeat and reliably pumps blood at a rate of 60 to 100 times per minute across your body. Arrhythmia is a type of heart disease that is characterized by an irregular heartbeat. The events that follow because of arrhythmia can lead to a stroke.

Atrial fibrillation (AF), caused by abnormal electrical impulses from the malfunctioning natural pacemaker, is the most commonly occurring arrhythmia. The natural pacemaker of your heart is located in the right atrium.

Ventricular fibrillation, another type of commonly occurring cardiac arrhythmia, is caused by the heart’s erratic electrical firing. In this type of arrhythmia, the normal functioning of the large heart chambers becomes impaired, and they quiver uncontrollably. The heart can even stop in certain situations, leading to cardiac arrest.

Arrhythmias lead to strokes because the blood flow to the brain gets impaired because of an irregular heartbeat. Stagnation of blood or stasis may occur for only a few milliseconds, but that is sufficient to form clots. These clots from the heart travel to the carotid arteries or the brain, interrupting the circulation of blood in the brain, and this causes ischemic strokes, which result in bleeding or haemorrhage.

Heart Failure 

Congestive heart failure is a condition that refers to a weak heart or a heart that is not functioning efficiently. The chances of individuals with these conditions experiencing a stroke are two to three times greater than those who have not been diagnosed with these conditions. If you want to prevent heart failure, you must go for regular check-ups with the best heart specialist hospital in Chennai.

Symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, fatigue, and low energy. These symptoms show up because of the heart muscles’ weakness and poor blood delivery to various parts of the body. Sometimes, people with heart failure experience a rapid heartbeat. This is the heart’s way of compensating for muscle weakness.

A person with heart failure experiencing a stroke depends on several factors. A couple of ways in which heart failure can lead to a stroke are:

As a physiologic response to the insufficient oxygen supply, the body releases several hormones as part of a compensation mechanism, increasing the blood’s tendency to clot. This leads to a stroke.

The body may also alter blood pressure in order to compensate for heart failure, leading to a stroke. As heart failure causes the heart rate to become irregular or erratic, clots may form and travel to the brain. Besides, the biological processes that lead to heart failure can also cause blood vessel diseases, leading to clot formation and stroke.

You can get the condition of your heart reviewed by visiting one of the top diagnostic labs in Chennai by undergoing a few tests. Early diagnosis helps to prevent the incidence of severe heart problems later on.

Heart Valve Disease

Heart valves are the tiny structures within the heart’s chambers and blood vessels which helps to maintain the direction of blood flow to the heart, within the organ, and out of it.

Defective heart valves are known to cause several serious problems. Leakage or “backflow” of blood can result in blood clots because of stasis. Blood, cholesterol, and other materials can stick to the valves and become small growths. Sometimes, these growths break off and travel to the brain, causing blocks in small blood vessels. If the heart valves become infected, they may send waste and other “sticky” material that causes blockage in the brain’s blood vessels.

Problems with heart valves are often diagnosed during routine medical check-ups. Suppose your doctor discerns the characteristically distinctive and abnormal heart sounds. In that case, he/she may order additional diagnostic tests like an echocardiogram, which helps determine the specific type of defect in your heart valve. The doctor will then recommend whether the valve needs to be repaired. This may include both medication and/or surgery.

Heart Attacks

A heart attack or myocardial infarction (damage caused to the heart muscle because of an interruption or reduction in blood supply) is a painful event characterized by severe chest pressure and shortness of breath.

Depending on which part of the heart sustains damage, you may develop arrhythmia (if the part controlling heart rhythm is affected) or experience heart failure (if the heart muscle is damaged). A stroke can occur simultaneously in the event of a major heart attack when the blood supply to the brain is severely hampered.

Heart Inflammation and Infections

Infections and inflammatory diseases of the heart may not be very common. However, heart infections tend to increase the risk of having a hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke. Artificial heart valves may cause endocarditis, a type of infection or inflammation of the heart’s tissues. Rheumatic heart disease, a valve disease, is also a risk factor for endocarditis.

Congenital Heart Defects

A number of congenital heart problems, such as heart valve defects, malformations of the blood vessels of the heart, a hole in the septum (the structure separating the heart’s chambers) of the heart, and a patent foramen ovale (a defect in the septum separating the right and left atria) can all increase the risk of a stroke.

Heart diseases are very common. You should never neglect your heart’s health, especially if you have heart disease symptoms. You must seek medical attention immediately. Medical science has advanced so much that a vast majority of heart-related problems can be well-managed, and consequences like a stroke can be prevented.

Sugam Hospital

At Sugam Hospital, cardiologists know that they get only a small window of opportunity when a patient who has suffered a heart attack is brought to the healthcare facility. That’s why we act fast and start interventional treatment immediately to reduce the damage caused to the heart tissues. This significantly impacts the prognosis following an angiogram for diagnosis and angioplasty to open up blocked vessels. Furthermore, our team has the best neurologist in Chennai to provide the required support.

The facilities available at Sugam include a cath lab, the first in North Chennai; state-of-the-art operation theatres; and a fully equipped CCU with 10 beds. In addition to angiograms and angioplasty, our team performs valvuloplasties, closure of defects of the heart, and permanent pacemaker insertions. Our cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons make use of advanced technology to provide excellent treatment. At Sugam, we provide treatment for myocardial infarction, ventricular and supraventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, pericardial diseases, and heart blocks.