Coronary artery disease

For a lay person:

Coronary artery disease is narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart muscle, usually by fatty plaque. It can cause chest pain on exertion (angina) and can lead to heart attack.

For a trained medical person:

Atherosclerotic disease of the coronary arteries presenting as stable angina, acute coronary syndrome or heart failure. Management includes risk-factor control, antiplatelet therapy, statins, anti-anginal drugs and revascularisation. Chinese medicine is adjunctive only.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Chest yang bi and obstruction; Heart Blood Stasis; Liver depression counterflow chilling; Phlegm turbidity internally obstructing; Qi and yin deficiency; Yin and Yang Deficiency; Yang deficiency on the verge of desertion; Kidney Yang Deficiency, Water Overflowing; Heart Qi Deficiency; Heart Yin Deficiency. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Call emergency services for chest pain at rest, chest pain lasting more than a few minutes, or chest pain with breathlessness or sweating. Several blood-moving herbs interact with antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs.