Heart Attack
Medical Author:
Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEMDr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Medical Editor:
Daniel Lee Kulick, MD, FACC, FSCAI
Daniel Lee Kulick, MD, FACC, FSCAIDr. Kulick received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Southern California, School of Medicine. He performed his residency in internal medicine at the Harbor-University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and a fellowship in the section of cardiology at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. Medical Editor:
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical EditorMelissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.
How Up-To-Date is Your Doc?Medical Author: Benjamin C. Wedro, MD, FAAEM
But the rules change for the world outside sports as well, and never more frequently or dramatically than in medicine. Every aspect of medicine from diagnosis to treatment, medications to technology, is exposed to newer and potentially better ways of doing things. Heart attack is a good example of what was - and what is. Twenty-five years ago the treatment for a myocardial infarction or heart attack was hospitalization for two or three weeks followed by a gentle exercise program that limited walking to a few feet per day. Now patients who had bypass surgery are up and walking out of the hospital in four or five days. Top Searched Heart Attack Terms
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Heart Attack OverviewIf you believe that you are having the symptoms of a heart attack, please call 911 immediately and seek medical attention. The heart is a muscle like any other in the body. Arteries supply it with oxygen-rich blood so that it can contract and push blood to the rest of the body. When there isn't enough oxygen flow to a muscle, its function begins to suffer. Block the oxygen supply completely, and the muscle starts to die.
Heart Attack CausesOver time, plaque can build up along the course of an artery and narrow the channel through which blood flows. Plaque is made up of cholesterol buildup and eventually may calcify or harden, with calcium deposits. If the artery becomes too narrow, it cannot supply enough blood to the heart muscle when it becomes stressed. Just like arm muscles that begin to ache or hurt when heavy things are lifted, or legs that ache when you run too fast; the heart muscle will ache if it doesn't get adequate blood supply. This ache or pain is called angina. It is important to know that angina can manifest in many different ways and does not always need to be experienced as chest pain. If the plaque ruptures, a small blood clot can form within the blood vessel, acting like a dam and acutely blocking the blood flow beyond the clot. When that part of the heart loses its blood supply completely, the muscle dies. This is called a heart attack, or an MI - a myocardial infarction (myo=muscle +cardial=heart; infarction=death due to lack of oxygen).
Viewer Comments & ReviewsHeart attack - Symptoms at Onset of DiseaseThe eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:The symptoms of heart attack can vary greatly from patient to patient. What were your symptoms at the onset of your disease? Heart Attack - TreatmentThe eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:What treatment did you undergo after your heart attack? |
Every year the rules change. The one constant about sports is that during the
off season and sometimes during the year, the commissioner, the president, or
the owners will sit down and tinker with the way the game is played. Doesn't
matter which sport, it happens to all of them. The referees and players get
updates and adapt their play to the new rules. Ever diligent, the fan follows
along, learns, and adapts to the changes. How else can the referee or umpire be
second-guessed, except by those who really care about the game? 
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Heart Attack
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) »
The Importance of CPR
Heart disease is the number 1 killer in the United States. Each year, almost
330,000 Americans die from heart disease. Half of these will die suddenly,
outside of the hospital, because their heart stops beating.
- The most common cause of death from a heart attack in
adults is a disturbance in the electrical rhythm of the heart called
ventricular fibrillation.
- Ventricular fibrillation can be treated, but it requires applying an electrical shock to the chest called defibrillation.
- If a defibrillator is not readily available, brain death will occur in less than 10 minutes.
- Ventricular fibrillation can be treated, but it requires applying an electrical shock to the chest called defibrillation.
- One way of buying time until a defibrillator becomes available is to provide artificial breathing and circulation by
performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
- The earlier you give CPR to a person in cardiopulmon...
Read What Your Physician is Reading on Medscape
Myocardial Infarction »
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the irreversible necrosis of heart muscle secondary to prolonged ischemia.
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