Myocardial infarction is usually known as a heart attack. An individual suffers from a heart attack once the blood stops flowing to parts of the heart. The sudden cut-off of blood flow to the heart generates a life-threatening situation for individuals. The heart tissue gets damaged due to blockage in the coronary arteries, which disrupts the blood flow to the heart. Learn more about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of acute myocardial infarction from Dr. Benny Jose.
Causes of Myocardial Infarction:
The heart is the prime organ in the cardiovascular system. It also requires oxygen-rich blood for proper functioning. This blood is supplied by the blood vessels known as coronary arteries. There are two main coronary arteries, the left, and the right coronary arteries. The left system is the larger one supplying blood to around 60-70% of the heart musculature and hence is the predominant system.
People suffer from heart attacks once these arteries get blocked and cannot carry enough blood to the heart. Let us look at some of the common causes of a heart attack.
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Cholesterol:
Not all cholesterol is bad, but LDL is known as bad cholesterol. These stick to the walls of the arteries and slow make the artery passage narrow.
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Smoking:
Smoking is one of the leading and most easily preventable causes of a heart attack. The mechanism with which it results in heart attack includes an increased tendency of the blood to form clots, damage the blood vessels’ lining, and increased heart rate.
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Diabetes:
The most dangerous risk factor that increases a person’s chances of getting a heart attack is Diabetes. This disease accelerates the deposition of cholesterol in the blood vessels creating blockages.
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Hypertension:
The damages caused to the blood vessels due to hypertension are similar to that caused due to smoking. Higher pressure inside the blood vessels causes increased wear-and-tear of the lining of the vessels and predisposes them to damage and clot formation.
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Age:
This is one of the non-modifiable but critical risk factors of a heart attack. The older you get, the more likely you are to suffer from a heart attack. This is because, with age, the tissues of our body, including our blood vessels, cannot tolerate the normal wear-and-tear. This makes the blood vessels more susceptible to damage.
Symptoms:
Not all patients suffer the same symptoms once they develop a heart attack. Some feel light chest pain, while some feel it as severe. Some common signs of heart attack are:
- The feel of pressure on the chest
- Along with the chest, the patient may feel pain in the back, jaw. The pain sustains for few minutes and then goes away. It comes back again.
- Excessive sweating, shortness of breath, etc
Treatment:
Whenever a person feels such pain in the chest and back, the person will require immediate treatment. It is necessary to get admitted to the hospital at the earliest to get the best treatment.
About Dr. Benny Jose –
Dr. Benny Jose has a cumulative of 13 years of experience in treating cardiac ailments. He has gained the majority of his experience by working as a senior faculty in Asia’s largest cardiology institute, the U. N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre (affiliated to B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat). With an experience of over 5000 interventional and triple that of diagnostic coronary procedures, his interventional skills are beyond question. The Interventional services that he extends include complex coronary interventions, including but not limited to the use of ancillary cutting edge technologies like Rotablation, Intravascular ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography assisted coronary interventions.
Beyond coronary interventions, he also routinely performs peripheral vascular interventions like that for occluded blood vessels of the limbs, aortic interventions, and carotid interventions.
