Cardiovascular Diseases and Heart Attacks

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Recommended: myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction is also known as a heart attack in layman’s language. It is normally caused by a clot in one of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart. It is an acute condition that requires urgent medical attention since it can be fatal. Its treatment usually involves a medication that can dissolve the clot and create way to enable a recirculation of blood through the heart. Other treatment modalities include surgical procedures that create an artificial blood vessel that bypasses the blocked artery. This type of procedure is known as coronary artery by-pass surgery. The interventions are carried out in order to minimize damage to the heart in case blood supply is occluded for longer periods of time. The other treatments employed are those that minimize pain and to prevent complications from arising. As a preventive measure, reducing the various risk factors can help prevent the occurrence of a myocardial infarction. (Norris, 1982)
In cases of a myocardial infarction, a coronary artery or even one of its smaller branches becomes blocked. This causes the part of the heart that is supplied by that artery to lose its blood supply. In retrospect, the affected part loses it oxygen supply and undergoes necrosis. Therefore, when a part if the heart is said to be infarcted, it means that that part of the heart muscle is damaged. The area affected depends on the size of the coronary artery that has been blocked. If a larger coronary artery is blocked, then a larger portion of the heart muscle is affected. On the contrary, if a smaller sized artery is affected then a smaller portion of the

heart is affected. After a few weeks of the artery blockade, the damaged part of the heart is replaced by a scar tissue (Norris, 1982)...

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...re cases, it could last for between 15 minutes to about one hour. The pain may sometimes resemble indigestion or heartburn. In rare cases, a myocardial infarction can occur without any pain and, therefore, can only be diagnosed using an electrocardiogram. Some individuals may collapse suddenly in case a large portion of the heart is affected. However, this is not very common.
The diagnosis of a myocardial infarction is diagnosed though the use of electrocardiogram and the blood tests that measure the level of troponin in the blood. Troponin is the protein molecule that is released into the blood stream in case the heart muscle is destroyed. Treatment of myocardial infarction involves the use of medications such as low dose aspirin and antiplatelet drugs. Heparin injections and pain relief medications can also be administered. (Donoso, Ephraim ; Lipski, Janet;, 1978)

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