Not at all. Only some unfortunate victims of heart attack die suddenly. Most of them do survive to reach the hospital and many of them lead normal lives after discharge from the hospital. It all depends on how severe the attack is and how promptly you get medical attention. Many sudden cardiac arrests due to heart attacks can be revived if cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is initiated promptly. An automatic external defibrillator can be helpful in this situation to shock the heart rhythm back to normal. All heart attacks need not cause a cardiac arrest, which is abrupt cessation of the pumping activity of the heart, usually due to an abnormal heart rhythm.
Category Archives: Diseases Of Blood Vessels Of The Heart
What is myocardial infarction?
Myocardial infarction is the medical name for heart attack. It is damage to a region of the heart muscle due to abrupt cessation of blood supply to that region. It could be due to sudden occlusion of a branch of a coronary artery supplying that region or abrupt spasm (contraction of the smooth muscle of the blood vessel wall) which persists long enough to produce damage to the heart muscle. It can also be due to lodgment of small clot arising elsewhere in a branch of the coronary artery. Myocardial infarction is a potentially life threatening condition unless prompt medical attention is obtained. It usually presents as severe chest pain, though occasionally it can be painless and present with atypical symptoms like breathlessness, sweating or fatigue.
How to remove plaque from your arteries?
Plaques can be removed from your artery by a process known as atherectomy. There various techniques for this like rotational atherectomy using a rotablator, directional coronary atherectomy and laser atherectomy. Simple balloon angioplasty also removes the plaques, though it plasters the plaque on to the artery wall by enlarging it a bit, so that final lumen is better than the initial lumen.
Can and ECG detect a silent heart attack?
Yes. In fact most silent heart attacks are detected by an ECG. In the Framingham Heart Study, twenty five percent of the heart attacks were silent, being detected by routine ECG. In a population without such routine screening ECG, silent attacks are often detected by ECG taken for other purposes like life insurance or pre-operative or pre-emplyoment screening.
Are heart attack and cardiac arrest the same?
No. Heart attack means damage to a region of the heart muscle due to loss of blood supply, usually due to blockage of a coronary artery. Cardiac arrest means stopping of the heart which is mostly due to abnormality in the electrical activity of the heart. But a heart attack can cause a cardiac arrest, though heart attack is not the only cause of a cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest can occur due to other causes like electrical disorders of the heart which itself may be due to inherited heart rhythm disorders, abnormalities in the blood electrolytes, toxins etc.