Conditions
Cardiovascular Disease
Also Known As Heart Disease
General Class
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The general class of diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels, including coronary artery disease, stroke, hypertensive heart disease and heart failure, together the leading cause of death worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Ancient physicians described symptoms now attributed to cardiovascular disease, including chest pain and sudden death, without understanding the underlying circulatory mechanism. The English physician William Harvey's 1628 De Motu Cordis first correctly described the heart as a pump driving a closed, continuous circulation of blood through the body, the foundation of modern understanding of the cardiovascular system and, in time, of the diseases that affect it.
Facts
Condition Classchronic, non-communicable 1 First DescribedMarks Harvey's discovery of blood circulation itself, the mechanism underlying the cardiovascular system, rather than the first clinical description of a specific cardiovascular disease, which predates precise understanding of that mechanism. First Described (Era)Symptoms consistent with cardiovascular disease, including angina-like chest pain, are described in the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, circa 1550 BCE. 2 PrevalenceCardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year, according to World Health Organization data. 3 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Cardiac MRI images heart muscle and blood flow without the ionizing radiation of a CT angiogram, and is used to assess damage after a heart attack and to diagnose structural heart disease.
Treated By
Bloodletting, Treatments Why this is corrected. Under humoral theory, bloodletting was used against apoplexy (stroke) and against plethora, a supposed excess of blood believed to cause hypertension-like symptoms. The practice offered no benefit against the underlying vascular disease and could worsen outcomes through blood loss and hypotension.
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