The heart – when the engine "stutters" – Part 1

The heart - a high-performance engine

No organ in the body has to do as much as the heart: at rest, it beats 70 to 80 times a minute and - without a break - takes in used blood, pumps it into the lungs where it is enriched with oxygen, retrieves it and returns it to the circulation. This supplies all of our body's vital organs. If the blood vessels were all strung together, the total length would be around 100,000 kilometers (that's two and a half times the circumference of the earth!). This transport system supplies our organs with vital oxygen and important nutrients (e.g. vitamins and minerals) and active substances (hormones, enzymes). In turn, respiratory gases (carbon dioxide) and waste products are removed from the body's cells via this network. The central drive of this system is provided by the heart muscle. Over the course of an 80-year life, the heart has beaten an average of 3 billion times, transporting around 200 million liters of blood through the blood vessels. With each beat, it pumps 70 to 100 milliliters of blood through the vessels. This corresponds to a volume of 5 liters per minute and a pumping capacity of 7000 liters per day - a tremendous achievement for an organ weighing only 300 grams.

Heartbreak and co.: Broken heart syndrome - when the heart "breaks"

Shortness of breath, chest tightness, sweating, nausea and vomiting can accompany this special form of cardiomyopathy. The symptoms of this cardiac dysfunction are similar to a heart attack. However, the cause here is not an (acutely life-threatening) narrowing or even a blockage of the coronary arteries, but usually severe emotional stress, which affects the heart and can be accompanied by complications such as cardiac arrhythmia. Women are particularly at risk. Heartbreak, grief, loss or other psychological factors, but also excessive joy, can trigger "broken heart syndrome". The release of stress hormones and the resulting inflammatory processes are thought to be responsible for the disruption of heart pumping function, which in the worst case can also lead to cardiac arrest. This phenomenon, which has not yet been fully researched, is fatal in every twentieth person affected.

What are the causes of cardiovascular death?

The causes of cardiovascular mortality are coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure. The risk factors and pathogenetic mechanisms that take place in the blood vessels and promote the diseases mentioned have now been largely clarified. Both controllable and non-controllable risk factors that can promote a cardiac event are known (table). While studies have shown that the classic CHD risk factors mentioned correlate with cardiac events by only around 50%, there is evidence from a large number of studies of other vascular-relevant influencing factors. For example, atherosclerosis is now initially attributed to increased oxidative stress (oxidation of blood lipids, especially cholesterol), endothelium-damaging hyperhomocysteinemia and proinflammatory processes, which together ultimately lead to endothelial dysfunction and promote cardiovascular disease.

Classic risk factors that are known for the development of cardiovascular diseases

Influenceable risk factors:

• Hypertension

• Dyslipoproteinemia

• Obesity

• Tobacco consumption

• Lack of exercise

Risk factors that cannot be influenced:

• Age

• Gender

• Genetic predisposition

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Click here for the second part of our blog series:

Part 2

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