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How To Determine If One Has Inherited The Widow Maker Heart Condition?
we were just informed that my brother -in -law age 55 has the widow maker heart disease..he had a double bypass.. Both my husband and he were adopted and we just learned from his real mother's aunt that both his mother's brother and her father died from the same disease.. My husband age 52 has a very stressful job and has diabetes plus he is about 25 pounds overweight. Do you think he could have possibly inherited this disease
Thu, 20 Aug 2015
Hello. Thank you for your question and welcome to HCM. I understand your concern.
I would like to tell you that the coronary artery disease has several risk factors. One of them, a strong one, is the genetic factor. Having blood-related people in the family that have had myocardial infarction or coronary arter disease without infarction, is a strong risk factor that descendents also will have coronary artery disease. There is a little data about the genetic inheritance of the ''widow maker'' artery disease, but ther all are inconclusive. For example, you husband has these risk factors: age above 45, diabetes, overweight and genetic inheritance of the coronary heart disease. With or without the ''widow maker'' in this scenario, I would recommend a cardiac check up for him: EKG, echocardiogram and cardiac stress test.
I hope I was clear and helpful. Take care. Kind regards,
Dr. Meriton
I would like to tell you that the coronary artery disease has several risk factors. One of them, a strong one, is the genetic factor. Having blood-related people in the family that have had myocardial infarction or coronary arter disease without infarction, is a strong risk factor that descendents also will have coronary artery disease. There is a little data about the genetic inheritance of the ''widow maker'' artery disease, but ther all are inconclusive. For example, you husband has these risk factors: age above 45, diabetes, overweight and genetic inheritance of the coronary heart disease. With or without the ''widow maker'' in this scenario, I would recommend a cardiac check up for him: EKG, echocardiogram and cardiac stress test.
I hope I was clear and helpful. Take care. Kind regards,
Dr. Meriton
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