Our heart is a truly amazing organ. It begins its rhythmic contractions long before we were born and must continue throughout our entire life without interruptions. In fact, it is the first sound that every expecting parents would like to hear. The heart is located between the lungs in the mediastinal space of the intrathoracic cavity (Porth, 2011). It is a four chambered muscular pump approximately the size of a fist, and it beats an average of 70 times in a minute. The four chambers consist of two superior chambers called atria, and two inferior chambers called ventricles. The right atrium receives blood returning to the heart from the systemic circulations, and the left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the lungs. Whereas the right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs, and the left ventricle pumps blood into the systemic circulation (Porth, 2011). Just like all other tissues in the body, the heart requires oxygen to maintain its function. The oxygenated blood is supplied to the heart by two arteries, left and right coronary arteries. These two vessels are the first branches of the aorta, encircle the heart through their branches supple blood to the myocardium (Tortora & Nielsen, 2013). Myocardial infarction is a key component of the burden of cardiovascular disease. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), a heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, occurs when a section of the heart muscle dies or gets damaged because of reduced blood supply. Based on information reported on death certificates, National Vital Statistics Reports on Final Data for 2009 showed that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Mortality data for 2008 showed that one of every three deaths in...
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...th ST elevation myocardial infarction. However, providing procedure in the catheter laboratory within evidence-based timeframes is challenging. Generally, even with the ideal circumstances of rapid initial diagnosis, delayed in service can occur due to long transfer delays to the catheter laboratory.
The severity of a myocardial infarcts depends on the level of occlusion in the coronary artery, the length of time of the occlusion, and the presence or the absence of collateral circulation. Acute myocardial infarction is caused by coronary plaque disruption with exposure of substances that promote platelet activation, adhesion, and aggregation, thrombin generation, and thrombus formation leading to an occluded epicardial infarct-related artery. Therefore anti-platelet and anti-thrombotic therapy should be administered to all patients with an acute coronary syndrome.
Coronary artery disease is a heart disease characterized by narrow arteries and restricted blood flow in arteries and is the major cause of morbidity and mortality globally.[1] According to WHO estimation, 6.8% in men and 5.3% in women are affected globally.[2-4] Cardiovascular disease account for 29% of all deaths in Canada; of all the cardiovascular death, 54% and 23% was due to ischemic heart disease and heart attack, respectively. The total costs for heart disease and stroke were more than $20.9 billion every year. [5,6] With more than 1 artery impacted, multivessel coronary artery disease is more complex and more likely accompanied by other comorbidities including diabetes or high blood pressure; multivessel coronary artery disease usually is more difficult to deal with, has worse prognosis and cost more compared with single coronary artery disease. [7]
It can take two to four hours or even longer for complete necrosis of the myocardial cell at risk. After a myocardial infarction it can take at least five weeks to heal the myocardium (Thygesen, et al., 2012). However if a patient goes into cardiac arrest the mortality outcomes for patients that have been resuscitated that were admitted to an intensive care unit are still high. Over the past decade in New Zealand and Australia patients admitted to the intensive care unit in regards to a cardiac arrest have remained relatively unchanged in over a decade as 46% of patients were admitted in 2003 and 48% of patients were admitted in 2012 (Eastwood, Schneide, Suzuki, Bailey, & Bellomo,
The media today concentrates intently on drug and alcohol abuse, homicides, AIDS, and so on. What a lot of people aren’t realizing is that coronary disease actually accounts for about 80% of sudden deaths. In fact, the number of deaths from heart disease approximately equals to the number of deaths from cancer, chronic lung disease, pneumonia and influenza, and others combined.
The cardiovascular system keeps blood circulating throughout our bodies constantly, and without it, many of the activities that we do would not be possible! The heart is the main organ of the cardiovascular system because it pumps the blood, and also a major organ of the human body because of how it is able to allow our bodies to work. Unfortunately, the heart may fail to function at times when blood flow is reduced as a result of blockage. This is more commonly known as a heart attack, or myocardial infarction. According to “Heart Disease Statistics,” approximately 715, 000 Americans suffer a heart attack every year . This deadly disorder of the heart can be diagnosed from symptoms, as well as from imaging and tests, and it is possible to
Coronary artery disease is thought to begin with damage or injury to the inner layer of a coronary artery, sometimes as early as childhood. The damage may be caused by various factors including smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and radiation therapy to the chest. Once the inner wall of an artery is damaged, fatty deposits made of cholesterol and other cellular waste products tend to accumulate at the site of injury in a process called atherosclerosis. If the surface of these plaques breaks or ruptures, blood cells called platelets will clump at the site to try to repair the artery. This clump can block the artery, leading to a heart attack.
Myocardial infarctions are caused by vascular endothelial disruption most often associated with plaque build-up or atherosclerosis that develops over several years and causes thrombus formation which in turn
I shadowed a cardiologist named Arnulfo Granado. He uses echocardiograms to get an imaging of the heart. He receive patients with arrhythmia, atrophibulation, risk of heart attack, and any other heart threatening conditions. According to Mr. Granado, his job is fairly easy—he mostly have to know how to use TTE and TEE echocardiograms to take a good pictures of the patients’ hearts and measure the size of the valve, right atrium, etc. His work was very interesting to hear since looking at all kinds of heart with different conditions is very amusing to observe.
Succinctly speaking, a myocardial infarction is not a disease but rather an event occurring due to the progression of coronary heart disease. 1(p.125) With coronary heart disease, the flow of blood which supplies the heart with oxygen is blocked, reducing the amount of oxygen received by the cardiac muscles and resulting in damage or death of cardiac muscle....
One of the leading causes of death in the United States is heart disease. “Approximately every 29 seconds one American will have a heart attack, and once a minute one American will die from a heart attack” (Ford-Martin and Odle, 915). According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine men over the age of 45 and women over the age of 55 are considered at risk for heart disease. Heart disease is a major cause of death. It is beneficial to individuals who seek to prevent heart disease to recognize the risks leading to heart attacks as they are one of the primary indications of developing heart disease; especially those that fall into the at risk age groups. These risks consist of some that cannot be changed such as heredity risks, or those that can change such as smoking habits. It is very important to know these specific risks for prevention and to understand the symptoms of heart attacks, such as sweating or the feeling of weakness so if these or other symptoms occur people are aware. Finally heart disease treatment is of vital importance if you experience a heart attack so you can learn how to prevent another one from occurring.
Cardiovascular disease, also known as heart disease, is a term used for diseases involving the heart, arteries, capillaries and veins. The problems associated with cardiovascular disease are often a result of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is caused by a buildup of plaque in artery walls, which disrupts blood flow through the arteries (American Heart Association, 2011). Cardiovascular disease causes a variety of conditions including heart attacks, ischemic stroke, heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias and heart valve problems (American Heart Association, 2011). These conditions lead to serious health related issues for individuals, including death. Every year there are around 600,000 individuals in the United States that die from cardiovascular disease, making heart disease the leading cause of death in both men and women (CDC, 2014). Although there are ways to decrease the risk of heart disease, the rate has been consistently increasing over the years, costing America billions of dollars in health care services annually. Contributing factors to the rise in heart disease includes the rate of obesity and a lack of physical activity (Dhaliwal, Welborn & Howat, 2013; Poirier, Giles, Bray, Hong, Pi-Sunyer & Eckel, 2006). These articles provide research that answers the question of how obesity and physical activity are linked to cardiovascular disease.
In United States, according to American Heart Association, Cardiovascular disease also called Heart Disease is number one cause of death in United States. There are different types of heart disease and one of them is Coronary Heart disease or Coronary Artery Disease/CAD. Coronary Artery disease or CAD is the most common type of heart disease for both men and women. It is unannounced and can be a silent killer. CAD is mostly can be from damaged or diseased arteries. Some conditions, habits, or traits may increase the risk of CAD and the more problem shows, th...
Oxygen was first admitted to the client with chest pain over 100 years ago (Metcalfe, 2011). Chest pain is a large bracket that can contain many different conditions, but for the purpose of this analysis it is focused manly upon a myocardial infarction. A myocardial infarction is mainly referred to as a heart attack, and occurs when one or more coronary arteries leading to the heart reduce or completely stop blood flow (Tuipulotu, 2013 ). Administering high concentrations of oxygen to patients with chest pain is now embedded in guidelines, protocols and care pathways, even with a lack of clear supporting evidence (Nicholson, 2004 ). High concentration of oxygen means that up to 60% is administered (Knott, 2012). More recent research has suggested that the use of oxygen in this scenario is unnecessary and can lead to unwanted side effects, especially in normoxic cardiac patients (Moradkham & Sinoway, 2010 ). The aim of this comparative analysis is to dismantle and understand both the benefits and risks of the commonly known practice of administration of oxygen to the client with chest pain. Through completing this analysis using recent and appropriate evidence a more improved practice can be given and understood.
Inspection of the patient’s color, fingers, and chest would be helpful. Is the patient cyanotic with clubbed fingers? After all, a cyanotic patient is more likely to have complex malformations. The presence of the s...
The human heart has two ventricles and two atria making up four chambers. The heart includes the atria and ventricles. The left atrium and the left ventricle make up the left side of the heart and the right atrium and right ventricle make up the right side of the heart. Each side is important but the left ventricle and left atrium is the most important, and I will tell you why. The left ventricle receives blood from the left atrium and pumps into the aorta. The aorta pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. If someone shot you in your left ventricle, you would most certainly die. That is why it is the most important. It pumps blood to the rest of your body. The right ventricle is important too. The right ventricle receives blood from the right atrium and pumps blood to the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery ha...
Myocardial infarction occurs when the coronary arteries are blocked by a blood clot. It is commonly known as “heart attack”. The heart needs its own constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to work properly. Two coronary arteries delivery oxygenated blood to the heart, and if one of these two arteries fail or become blocked, then a portion of the heart will not acquire the necessary oxygen. This clot could be because of CAD (coronary artery disease), which happens when the inner walls of the coronary arteries thicken because of build up of cholesterol, fatty deposit, calcium among other elements that are carried in the blood (Boston Scientific, 2009).