Key points for myocardial infarction prevention and health management in understanding fatty liver

Prevention of Myocardial Infarction

Avoid factors that easily trigger myocardial infarction, such as high-fat diets, smoking and alcohol, overwork, emotional excitement, cold stimulation, and overeating.

Maintain a reasonable diet, engage in appropriate exercise, and avoid lifting heavy objects. Lifting heavy objects inevitably involves bending over and holding one's breath, which has a similar effect on the respiratory and circulatory systems as straining during bowel movements, and is a common cause of myocardial infarction in patients with coronary heart disease.

Maintain a cheerful mood, relax, live a happy life, and take everything calmly.

Pay special attention to bathing. Do not bathe when full or hungry. The water temperature should be close to body temperature, and the bathing time should not be too long. Patients with severe coronary heart disease should bathe with the assistance of others.

Be careful of climate changes. Sustained low temperatures, strong winds, and rainy weather are among the triggers for acute myocardial infarction. Therefore, during inclement weather, patients with coronary heart disease should take precautions to keep warm or take appropriate nitroglycerin-like coronary vasodilators for protection.

Actively treat coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, and hyperlipidemia.

While prevention is key, high-risk groups for myocardial infarction also need to understand and recognize the warning signs of infarction and address them promptly. Approximately 70% of myocardial infarction patients experience warning signs, mainly including:

① Sudden and significantly worsening angina attacks.

② Changes in the nature of angina compared to previous episodes or difficulty in receiving relief with nitroglycerin.

③ Pain accompanied by nausea, vomiting, profuse sweating, or significant bradycardia.

④ Sudden onset of unexplained arrhythmias, heart failure, shock, dyspnea, or syncope in elderly patients with coronary heart disease.

If any of these symptoms occur, they must be taken seriously. The patient should first strictly remain in bed, keep quiet, and avoid excessive mental stress; administer nitroglycerin sublingually or inhale nitroglycerin spray. Contact the hospital immediately and transport the patient to the hospital promptly.

Don't Underestimate Fatty Liver

During physical examinations, many men who consider themselves healthy walk into the ultrasound room only to find their reports showing: "Enhanced anterior echogenicity and significantly decreased posterior echogenicity," with the diagnosis clearly stating "fatty liver." Do you understand what fatty liver is?

The liver is the largest digestive gland in the human body, possessing vital functions such as bile secretion, glycogen storage, and detoxification. The liver is closely related to lipid metabolism, maintaining a dynamic balance in the digestion, absorption, oxidation, and transformation of fats. If, due to various reasons, the liver's fat metabolism function is impaired, leading to an imbalance of lipids, fat accumulates in tissue cells. When this accumulation exceeds 5% of the liver's weight, or when more than 50% of hepatocytes are histologically fatty, it can be termed fatty liver.

Fatty liver is not a single disease. It can be classified into six types based on different causes, with nutritional imbalance-related fatty liver being the most common. Both overnutrition and undernutrition can lead to fatty liver. Approximately half of obese individuals develop fatty liver, with fat accumulation in the body directly proportional to body weight. With improved living standards and an increasing number of obese individuals, the incidence of this type of fatty liver has also risen significantly.

Excessive alcohol consumption is a major cause of alcoholic fatty liver, related to the toxic effects of alcohol on liver cells.

In diabetic patients, especially those with type 2 diabetes, the rate of fatty liver can be as high as 50%–80%. In addition, fatty liver is also frequently induced by factors such as small bowel surgery, hormone deficiency and use, and liver cell poisoning.

Mild fatty liver may be asymptomatic, while moderate to severe cases can cause liver enlargement, pain, or tenderness. The resulting liver pathological changes are serious. A healthy lifestyle should be adopted, including controlling diet and weight, avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, and actively treating diabetes.

Regular physical exercise is the best way to prevent and treat fatty liver.