A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked.
Heart attacks are caused by blockages in coronary arteries, the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart.
A heart attack is a medical emergency. Blocked or reduced blood flow to the heart damages the heart muscle.
If blood flow is not restored quickly, the heart muscle will begin to die.
Blood flow to the heart can become completely cut off or severely reduced when a blood clot gets lodged in any artery that has been previously narrowed by a build-up of plaque.
People with a build-up of plaque in their arteries have coronary heart disease, a major risk factor for heart attacks.
Plaque is a combination of fat, cholesterol, and other substances that build up in the inner lining of the artery walls.
This condition is often referred to as atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
The term heart attack, is often incorrectly used to describe cardiac arrest when the heart suddenly stops beating.
While heart attacks can lead to cardiac arrest, the heart doesnt always stop beating during a heart attack.
Someone in the United States has a heart attack every 43 seconds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a 2014 report, the American Heart Association estimated that around 1 million people in the United States have a heart attack each year.
About 1 in 6 people who suffer a heart attack die as a result.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among adults in the United States.
Heart attacks are divided into types based on severity.
STEMI Heart Attacks: STEMI heart attacks are the deadliest type of heart attacks.
STEMI is short for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
Sometimes called a massive heart attack or a widowmaker heart attack, a STEMI heart attack happens when a coronary artery is completely blocked.
As a result, a large portion of the heart cannot receive blood, and the heart muscle quickly begins to die.
NSTEMI Heart Attacks: NSTEMI heart attacks happen when blood flow to the heart through a coronary artery is severely restricted but not entirely blocked.
NSTEMI stands for non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.
An NSTEMI heart attack, sometimes referred to as a mini heart attack or mild heart attack, usually causes less damage to the heart than a massive heart attack.
Silent Heart Attacks: Some people have heart attacks with no or few symptoms.
These are often referred to as silent heart attacks.
Though they come with no symptoms, silent heart attacks are not harmless. They can cause permanent damage to the heart muscle.
Complications may arise after a heart attack, depending on the location and extent of damage to the heart.
Common heart attack complications include:
Arrhythmia: Arrhythmias happen when the electrical signals that control heartbeats cant travel properly through the heart.
An arrhythmia may cause heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat.
Heart Failure: Damage to the heart from a heart attack or coronary heart disease can lead to problems pumping blood to and from the heart.
Heart failure happens when the hearts pumping action becomes weaker and the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the bodys needs.
Valve Problems: A heart attack may damage the valves that keep blood flowing in the correct direction through the heart.
Valve problems can lead to abnormal heart murmurs.
Depression: A heart attack can be a scary, stressful, life-changing event.
About one in five people who survive a heart attack will develop depression shortly after the incident, according to medical studies.
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Heart attack symptoms vary in type and severity.
Symptoms can be mild and come on slowly over the course of several hours or they may be more intense and sudden.
While sudden chest pain may be the most common heart attack symptom, not all people experience chest pain during a heart attack.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one-third of people with heart attacks had no chest pain.
People with diabetes and older adults are more likely to experience other heart attack symptoms.
And symptoms of heart attacks are different in men and women.
The most common warning signs of a heart attack include:
Chest pain: Most heart attacks involve pain or discomfort in the center or left-center of the chest. Pain may be mild or severe.
The pain may feel like tightness, fullness, heavy pressure, crushing, or squeezing. It can also feel like heartburn or indigestion.
Chest pain usually lasts more than a few minutes. Sometimes it goes away and comes back.
Upper body discomfort: You may feel pain or discomfort in your arms, jaw, neck, back (especially between the shoulders), or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath: You may experience trouble breathing or feelings of breathlessness when you are at rest or doing very slight activity that wouldn't normally cause breathlessness.
Other common warning signs that may signal a heart attack include:
A heart attack is a medical emergency.
The quicker you get to the hospital, the better the chance that you will survive the heart attack and minimize damage to the heart muscle.
According to the NIH, most heart attack sufferers wait two or more hours after symptoms first appear before seeking medical treatment.
Follow these steps if you or someone around you is having heart attack symptoms:
Call 9-1-1 immediately: Do not wait more than five minutes.
If you take nitroglycerin for chest pain that comes on with exertion and goes away with rest, take it immediately.
If chest pain doesn't go away within 5 minutes, call 9-1-1.
Chew one aspirin: After you call 9-1-1, the operator may tell you to take an aspirin.
Aspirin may help to slow or reduce clotting and blockage around the site of a ruptured plaque.
But aspirin won't cure a heart attack or make symptoms go away, so never delay calling 9-1-1 to take an aspirin.
Sit down and stay calm: Try to relax and remain calm while you wait for help to arrive.
If you are home alone, open the front door and sit on the floor near the entrance.
This will help the paramedics easily find you in case you lose consciousness before the ambulance arrives, and give them a flat surface on which to begin CPR if necessary.
Note the time: If you are able to do so, record the time your heart attack symptoms began and what you were doing when they started.
This information will help the doctors treating you when you reach the hospital.
If you are having heart attack symptoms and for some reason cannot call 9-1-1, have someone else drive you to the hospital.
Never drive yourself unless there is absolutely no other choice.
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Most heart attacks occur as a result of heart disease.
Some risk factors for heart disease, including your age and family history, cannot be changed.
However, other risk factors, including diet and exercise, can be modified.
Heart attacks happen when blood flow to the heart becomes blocked, and the heart muscle can't get enough oxygen.
Most heart attacks happen in people with coronary heart disease.
People with that condition have a build-up of a waxy substance called plaque in the arteries that supply blood to the heart.
Plaque is a combination of fat, cholesterol, and other substances that build up inside the arteries.
Over time, plaque can accumulate and the artery can become narrowed.
This condition is often referred to as atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries."
Eventually, a plaque may rupture, causing a blood clot to form.
When a blood clot forms in an already-narrowed artery, blood supply to the heart may be blocked. This is a heart attack.
Because blood carries oxygen to the heart, if blood flow to the heart is not restored, a portion of the heart muscle may be permanently damaged.
Heart attacks may less commonly be caused by a severe spasm, or tightening, of a coronary artery.
A coronary artery spasm may cut off blood flow to the heart. They can happen in people who do not have coronary heart disease or atherosclerosis.
While it isn't always clear what causes a coronary artery spasm, risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.
Other potential triggers of coronary artery spasm may include:
Risk factors for having a heart attack fall into two categories: modifiable (behaviors you can change) and non-modifiable (characteristics you cannot change).
Major Non-modifiable Heart Disease Risk Factors
Heart disease risk factors you cannot control include:
Major Modifiable Heart Disease Risk Factors
Heart disease risk factors that you can change include:
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The level of blockage and extent of damage to the heart muscle will determine the heart attack treatment your doctor recommends.
Once a heart attack is confirmed or strongly suspected, your doctor may put you on medications to help unblock the clogged arteries and restore blood flow to the heart.
These medications are referred to as thrombolytics or clot busters.
If one or more of your coronary arteries is completely blocked, your doctor may start you on a thrombolytic drug.
These medications work to quickly dissolve any blood clot that may be causing the blockage.
Clot-busters are given though a vein using an intravenous (IV) tube.
They are most effective if given within three hours of when the chest pain or other heart attack symptoms started.
During or after a heart attack, your doctor also may start you on medications to prevent blood clots or to keep a partial blockage from getting worse.
Those medications may include:
Anticoagulants or blood thinners (e.g., warfarin, heparin): Blood thinners decrease the clotting ability of the blood.
They may prevent clots from becoming larger and causing more serious problems.
Antiplatelet drugs (e.g., aspirin): Aspirin stops blood clots from forming by preventing the blood cells or platelets from sticking together.
It may be given preventively when an artery is narrowed by plaque buildup but no blockage is evident.
Depending on the extent of blockage and where it exists, your doctor may recommend a procedure or surgery to restore and maintain blood flow to the heart.
Angioplasty And Stent Placement: Angioplasty is a procedure to open a narrowed or blocked coronary artery.
During an angioplasty, the doctor will insert a plastic tube through a small incision made in the groin or arm. Youll stay awake during the procedure.
The doctor will guide the tube through the artery to the site of the blockage.
A small balloon is then inflated to open up the blockage.
A mesh tube called a stent will be left in the blocked area to keep the artery open.
Heart Bypass Surgery: Heart bypass surgery, also referred to as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), creates a new route for blood and oxygen to reach your heart.
During a heart bypass surgery, your doctors will take a blood vessel (often a piece of vein from the upper leg) and use it to make a detour, or bypass, around the blocked artery.
Most people are placed on a heart-lung bypass machine or bypass pump during the surgery.
This machine does the work that your heart would normally do while doctors operate on your heart.
Heart bypass surgeries typically last four to six hours.
Heart attacks can permanently damage a portion of the heart or disrupt the electric activity responsible for a normal heartbeat.
After a heart attack, your doctor may recommend additional procedures, including the placement of a pacemaker to help maintain a normal heartbeat.
A heart attack can also damage the valves of the heart, which help to keep blood flowing in the proper direction through the heart.
In some heart attack patients, a valve repair or replacement may eventually become necessary.
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Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, the risk factors for heart disease and symptoms of heart attacks may differ between men and women.
Heart disease is often thought of as a mans disease, but more women than men actually die of heart disease each year.
One out of every three deaths in American women is caused by heart disease.
Five times as many women die from heart attacks as breast cancer each year, according to the American College of Cardiology.
Women are also more likely than men to die in the weeks following a heart attack.
Age may be one reason: The average age of first heart attack in women is around 70 years in women compared to about 65 in men, says the American Heart Association.
Heart disease tends to develop about seven to 10 years later in women than in men, and older adults of both genders are less likely to survive a heart attack.
While chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom in both women and men, women are more likely than men to have heart attacks without experiencing classic chest pain symptoms.
Both women and men experience major heart disease and heart attack risk factors, including:
Women who have had high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy have an increased risk of heart attack later in life.
While stress and depression can affect both men and women, stressful life events such as the death of a family member may take a toll on womens hearts.
One recent study found that women middle-aged or older facing the death of a spouse or loved one faced a 65 percent increased risk of heart attack.
As women age, their estrogen levels decline and their risk of heart disease increases.
Estrogen is thought to play a protective role by helping to keep artery walls flexible and healthy.
Despite the benefits of estrogen, the American Heart Association doesnt recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women.
Medical studies suggest that for some women, taking HRT may actually increase chances of heart attack or stroke.
Heart disease causes nearly one in four deaths among U.S. men.
Sudden chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom in men, though not all men experience chest pain during a heart attack.
In fact, one study found that about 30 percent of men who were admitted to the hospital for heart attacks experienced no chest pain.
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At least 200,000 cardiovascular disease deaths (including deaths from heart attack and stroke) each year could be prevented through medications and changes in health habits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Reducing major risks for heart disease will help to prevent future heart attacks.
Key risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and being overweight or obese.
Quit smoking: People who smoke are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as people who dont smoke, according to the American Heart Association.
By quitting, you can quickly reduce your risk of a heart attack.
Some studies show that smokers can lower their risk of heart attack to that of non-smokers within two years of quitting.
Increase physical activity: Inactive people are nearly twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease as people who exercise.
If you dont exercise, its never too late to start.
Work your way up to two-and-a-half hours (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity exercise each week.
Just 30 minutes of brisk walking five days a week can help you maintain a healthy weight and lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
What you eat (and how much) can help cut your heart attack risk. Achieve a heart-healthy diet by:
Eating more fruits and vegetables: Aim for at least five servings of fruits and veggies every day.
Eating more fiber: A high-fiber diet can decrease your risk of heart disease and other health problems, such as type 2-diabetes and colon cancer.
Women should aim for 25 grams of fiber a day and men should aim for 38 grams of fiber each day.
High-fiber foods include: beans, nuts, prunes and whole grains.
Cutting salt: The American Heart Association recommends that most Americans consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium each day for optimal heart health.
The biggest source of salt in the diet is processed foods. Canned soups, sauces, deli meats, frozen dinners and packaged snacks and bread are notoriously high in salt.
Cutting fat: Choose chicken, fish or beans over high-fat options such as red meat, processed meat (salami, pepperoni, ham) or cheese.
Cutting calories: Choosing smaller portions and eating more slowly can help cut calories and maintain a healthy weight.
In addition to diet and exercise, depending on your medical history, your doctor may recommend certain medications to cut your heart attack risk.
Commonly prescribed medications may include:
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Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com
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