Tests for Angina

Your doctor may recommend:

Treatments and Medications for Angina

The treatment for coronary artery disease starts with living a healthy lifestyle. Your physician may recommend the following:

  • Stop smoking
  • Exercise
  • Weight loss
  • Lower your cholesterol
  • Control Stress
  • Cardiac Diet

Medications are also used to control risk factors for coronary artery disease.  Be sure to follow your physician's instructions when taking medication.

  • Nitroglycerin usually works well to relieve chest discomfort from angina.
  • Beta blockers reduce your heart’s work during exercise by slowing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure.
  • Calcium channel blockers reduce the blood pressure — and sometimes the heart rate — during exercise. They also relax and widen the arteries to the heart muscle like nitroglycerin does.

  • Statins- This class of drugs works in the liver to prevent the formation of cholesterol. They are most effective at lowering the LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Other treatments:

If you keep having frequent or disabling angina despite using medications, or if your coronary arteries are badly blocked, you may need surgery or cardiac catheterization. Your doctor may advise Coronary Artery Bypass for one or more of your arteries. In this operation, a vein (taken from the leg or chest) is grafted onto the blocked artery, bypassing the blocked area. For a larger percentage of people, coronary angioplasty may be advised. It is a technique in which the blockage in a coronary artery is dilated (stretched open)using an inflatable baloon on the tip of a catheter.

Cardiac Rehabilitation - Cardiac Rehabilitation programs are designed to assist patients with heart disease to recover faster, and return to full and productive lives. Cardiac Rehabilitation is also a fitness program for people who seek personalized exercise and help in managing healthy lifestyle choices.

Cardiac Diet