A heart attack is also known as acute myocardial infarction, or AMI, and is caused by a rupture, due to plaque, which interrupts the blood supply to a part of the heart. As a result of the oxygen shortage, damage is caused and potential death of a heart tissue. This usually occurs because a blood clot has formed causing the blockage of flow of blood through the part of the blood vessel that feeds blood to the heart muscle. Even though the three main causes of an interruption to the flow of blood to the heart would be a blood clot, atherosclerosis, or coronary artery spasm, there are many important risk factors that may lead to a heart attack such as previous heart disease, men over 40 and women over 50, smoking and alcohol consumption, and several others.Since previous heart disease can be a contributing factor to heart attacks, sometimes a heart attack can go unnoticed in the first stages of occurrence as about half of people suffering from a heart attack may actually have had signs and symptoms for hours, days, and even weeks in advance. Some of the classic symptoms can include chest pain that may just feel like sharpness radiating to the left arm, shortness of breath, and even nausea and vomiting. Yet, since approximately one third of all heart attacks may not have any chest pain, the heart attack is overlooked because some of the other symptoms are common to other illness, and therefore, may be treated as such if treated at all.
Women over 50, or even women taking some forms of birth control contraceptives, have an increased risk for a heart attack. As women will often experience symptoms that differ from men, such as shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue, women may be suffering a heart attack and not realize it until it is too late. Another reason a heart attack may have failed to be diagnosed would be that since one of the earliest predictors of a heart attack can be triggered by exertion and relieved by rest, and so a victim will believe that by resting whatever is being experienced will just go away and everything will be alright after that.
As many other contributing factors to heart attack may include smoking and alcohol consumption, it is no wonder that according to the World Health Organization, 12 million people die each year worldwide from cardiovascular disease. This makes a heart attack the leading cause of death in the United States and in the United States alone, it is estimate that approximately 5 million people will suffer from heart attacks each year.
So once a heart attack is suspected, immediate treatment should be conducted through test to confirm it may be a heart attack, receiving oxygen and aspirin, and even medications that are used to break down any blood clots that may be blocking the flow of blood to the heart. Some of the test that may be performed to check for heart or coronary artery disease may include an electrocardiogram, or EKG or ECG, an electron beam computerized tomography, or EBCT, or a stress test or angiogram. Should the medications not be enough, a more drastic form of treatment would be to mechanically restore the blood flow by dilatation or bypass surgery on the blocked artery.
As the goal of treatment for a heart attack would be to restore blood supply that may be blocked, the success of the restoration often depends on timely diagnosis of the heart attack. So if there was a timely failure to diagnose a heart attack, or a heart attack was just not properly treated, then click here to set up a free consultation.
