"Heart Disease"

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"Heart Disease"

In the United Kingdom we have one of the highest death rates from heart disease in the world; every three minutes one British adult dies from the disease. (1)

The above statement clearly outlines how serious a problem heart disease is in the UK, but before one can begin to understand heart disease and how it affects the heart and cardiovascular system in the body one must first understand how the heart and related systems work.

The heart is found directly in the centre of the chest, directly behind the sternum and is surrounded by the pericardial cavity. It is roughly fist size and beats around 100,000 times every day, pumping roughly 8000 litres of blood (2). The heart is part of a system called the cardiovascular system that transports cells, nutrients wastes and gasses to and from the various cells and organs of the body. The circulatory system can be subdivided into two further parts; the pulmonary circuit which carries blood to and from the lungs and the systemic circuit which carries blood to and from the body. Carrying blood away from the heart are arteries and veins return blood to the heart. In