Treatments aim to reduce pain, prevent symptoms, and prevent or lower the risk of a heart attack. A doctor may recommend medication, lifestyle changes, a surgical procedure, or a combination.

The following strategies can help:

Doctors often prescribe nitrates, such as nitroglycerin, for angina. Nitrates prevent or reduce the intensity of angina by relaxing and widening the blood vessels.

Other drug options include:

Medications to manage high blood pressure may help manage angina. These aim to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, slow the heart rate, relax blood vessels, reduce strain on the heart, and prevent blood clots from forming.

Are there any natural anticoagulants? Find out here.

If medications do not help, other treatments include:

Enhanced external counterpulsation therapy: This involves wearing a device like a blood pressure cuff to improve oxygen flow to the heart.

Spinal cord stimulators: These block the sensation of pain but do not directly improve heart health.

Transmyocardial laser therapy: This stimulates the growth of new blood vessels or otherwise enhances blood flow in the heart.

In some cases, a procedure is necessary. A heart specialist may recommend an angioplasty, possibly with a stent placement.

Learn more about stents here.

Alternately, the cardiologist may recommend coronary artery bypass grafting, in which a surgeon uses a healthy artery or vein from another part of the body to bypass narrowed arteries in the heart.