Written by Elijah Powell
Intro
Cardiovascular Engineers are part of a very interdisciplinary team, that fights against Cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world. Ischemic Heart Disease alone is responsible for 13% of deaths globally. Cardiovascular Engineering will give you the tools and experience needed, to understand vascular disorders and diseases. In this article, I will discuss how Cardiovascular Engineers are involved in the management of ischemic heart disease and agglutination
keywords: Ischemia; Ischemic Heart disease; Platelet Aggregation; Fibrin plugs; Thrombosis; Agglutination; Cold Agglutination
Ischemic Heart disease
Ischemia is a vascular disease that causes inadequate blood supply to a specific organ. Ischemic Heart disease prevents the heart from getting an adequate blood supply due to some obstructions such as fatty tissue, Platelet aggregation(agglutination), and fibrin plugs(beginning stages of clot formation). Some of the medications for this disease include Beta Blockers to relax the heart muscle, ACE inhibitors to relax the blood vessels, and lower blood pressure, and Nitrates; a drug that widens the arteries to improve blood flow, just to name a few.
Agglutination
One issue that can potentially cause ischemic heart disease is Cold Agglutination. Agglutination is the clumping of blood cells. Agglutination is commonly caused by thrombosis(clotting). Cold Agglutination is a disease, with no cure, where this clumping can happen in cold temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius. Clumped blood cells can obstruct your arteries and lead to hemolysis the bursting of these cells, resulting in toxic hemoglobin levels. This can exacerbate ischemic heart disease and lead to many complications.
Cardiovascular Engineering
Engineers can help develop effective therapies such as heart prosthetics and artificial heart valves or pacemakers if the issue becomes severe. Cardiovascular engineering also helps healthcare trainees such as medical and pharmaceutical students with cardiovascular, physiology, biology, and pathology.
Conclusion
Cardiovascular Engineering has numerous applications that treat the world’s most notorious disease. From diagnostic strategies to the development of regenerative medicine, cardiovascular engineers are involved at almost every stage of the management, treatment, and research for potential cures for this disease. Cardio-vascular engineers also, research and develop these treatments in a way that is available to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status and that can be mass-produced in order to make an effective medication that can halt this rampant disease! The interdisciplinary research of cardiovascular engineering includes coagulation, immunology, and histology this research is essential to innovative procedures that treat heart disease.
Works Cited
Berentsen S. (2016). Cold agglutinin disease. Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program, 2016(1), 226–231. https://doi.org/10.1182/asheducation-2016.1.226
Nerem R. M. (2013). Bioengineering and the cardiovascular system. Global cardiology science & practice, 2013(1), 29–36. https://doi.org/10.5339/gcsp.2013.5