Coronary heart disease is a common term for the buildup of
plaque in the heart’s arteries that could lead to heart attack.
But what about coronary artery disease? Is there a difference?
The short answer is often no — health professionals frequently
use the terms interchangeably. However, coronary heart disease ,
or CHD, is actually a result of coronary artery disease, or CAD,
said Edward Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., an American Heart Association
volunteer who is the Leon H. Charney Professor of Cardiovascular
Disease and director of the Center for the Prevention of
Cardiovascular Disease at the NYU School of Medicine. With
coronary artery disease, plaque first grows in the coronary
arteries until the blood flow to the heart’s muscle is limited
(View an illustration of coronary arteries). This is also called
ischemia. It may be chronic, caused by narrowing of the coronary
artery and limitation of the blood supply to part of the muscle.
Or it can be acute, resulting from a sudden plaque that
ruptures. The traditional r