Do You Know What a Heart Attack Is?

 

Having a Heart Attack?

A heart Attack, or Myocardial infarction, occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle becomes blocked. If the flow of blood isn’t restored quickly to that section of heart then the damage can be more severe or result in death of the the heart muscle in that region of the heart due to lack of oxygen.

Unfortunately most people only think of the large arteries of the heart as being the culprit when it is usually the small vein like arteries that get clogged. Even though they may look like veins, every thing that flows blood into the heart muscle is actually an artery.

The biggest factor in a heart attack is usually attributed to Coronary artery disease which is the build up of fatty material called Plaque on the inside of the artery walls over time. This can take many years to occur. Some times that plaque that builds up closes off the artery supplying the heart completely, other times the plaque build up can actually explode causing a blood clot that will block the artery.

If the clogged artery isn’t cleared quickly the lack of oxygen rich blood to that section of the heart will cause the heart muscle in that area to die and become scar tissue that will cause even more problems later.

In many cases a heart attack is treated these days in a cardiac catheterization lab where the doctor will thread a catheter up to your heart through your femoral artery and place a stent or stents, a wire mesh tube, at the place of the blockage clearing the artery for blood flow. Sometimes the blockages or blockage is significant enough that open heart surgery must be done to perform a coronary bypass procedure.

Coronary artery disease is at the root of almost half of all heart attack deaths in the United States every year. In further articles I will be discussing symptoms of heart attacks as well as treatments and preventative measures.