Heart Disease is a general term used to describe a group of diseases. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the most common cause of deaths in the United States and also in developing countries where it is taking on epidemic forms. CAD affects seven million people in the USA alone. Each year approximately 500,000 people die due to CAD or related illness in the United States.
Coronary artery diseases are almost always caused by atheroma (plaque) and its complications, particularly thrombosis. However, coronary arteries are involved in other disorders such as congenital anomalies (like anomalous origin, fistula or malformations of a major coronary artery), aortitis, polyarteritis and other connective tissue disorders.