Richard Paul Abben MD

Blood pressure lower than 90/60 mm of Hg is referred to as low blood pressure, or hypotension. The first number is the measure of pressure in the arteries when the heart beats and fills blood in them. The second number is the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest between two beats. In...

Emergency situations with high blood pressure, called hypertensive crisis, are common when blood pressure is very high. This is a serious situation, as it may lead to organ damage. If the increase in blood pressure is not too high to cause any problems to any of the organs it is referred to as...

Our heart rate is automatically controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that has two divisions: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The part of the ANS that is responsible for raising a person’s heart rate through the sympathetic plexus is the sympathetic division. The parasympathetic...

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published research linking height and coronary artery disease through the study of genetics. Doctors have known since the 1950s about the link between short stature and coronary artery disease, “but the reason behind this really hasn’t been completely...

What is CHD?Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the disease that develops when there is an insufficient oxygen supply to the heart muscle by the coronary arteries. The most common reason for this is atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries with cholesterol plaques formation and narrowing of the arterial...

What is creatine phosphokinase (CPK)?Creatine phosphokinase (CPK) is an enzyme, which is predominantly present in the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles. Converting creatine into phosphate is the main task of this enzyme. The cells of the body then quickly consume or burn this phosphate and use it...