Heart Diseases—Benign Tumors

Also called: Benign cancer, Benign neoplasms, Noncancerous tumors

Tumors are abnormal growths in your body. They can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren’t cancer. Malignant ones are. Benign tumors grow only in one place. They cannot spread or invade other parts of your body. Even so, they can be dangerous if they press on vital organs, such as your brain.

Tumors are made up of extra cells. Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as your body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place. Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when your body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form tumor.

Treatment often involves surgery. Benign tumors usually don’t grow back.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

• Biopsy – polyps (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Cherry angioma (Medical Encyclopedia)

Also called: Cardiac diseases

If you’re like most people, you think that heart disease is a problem for others. But heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. It is also a major cause of disability. There are many different forms of heart disease. The most common cause of heart disease is narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. This is called coronary artery disease and happens slowly over time. It’s the major reason people have heart attacks.

Other kinds of heart problems may happen to the valves in the heart, or the heart may not pump well and cause heart failure. Some people are born with heart disease.

You can help reduce your risk of heart disease by taking steps to control factors that put you at greater risk:

• Control your blood pressure
• Lower your cholesterol
• Don’t smoke
• Get enough exercise

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

• Aspirin and heart disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Being active when you have heart disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Electrocardiogram (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Exercise stress test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Heart disease – risk factors (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Heart disease and depression (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Understanding cardiovascular disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Warning signs and symptoms of heart disease (Medical Encyclopedia)