A heart attack, or what is known as a myocardial infarction (MI), refers to the closing down of one of the arteries supplying the heart muscle, causing damage to the part of the heart that is supplied by that artery. A patient having a heart attack may experience chest pain, tightness, heaviness, or suffocation, and may have associated shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and excessive sweating.
There are some risk factors that are associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (blockages in arteries supplying blood to the heart) and subsequent heart attack. The most important ones are increasing age, male gender, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and a family history of coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease is the number one killer worldwide.
The treatment depends on the facilities available. The first thing to do when one experiences symptoms suggestive of a heart attack is to take 300 mg of regular Disprin, by either dissolving it in water, or chewing it, and then rush to the nearest hospital. The initial measures in the emergency are to give the patient pain relief, oxygen, and monitor for early complications. The eventual treatment is to open up the blocked artery. This may be done by either giving a medicine called Streptokinase, which dissolves the clot blocking up the flow of blood to the heart, or going for an emergency angiography and angioplasty, depending on the facilities available. As the Streptokinase has an increased risk of bleeding, and sometimes may not open up the artery, an emergency angiography and angioplasty is superior for opening up the artery.
Whatever the mode of treatment, patients need to be admitted in the hospital for at least 72 hours and monitored for complications, as it is during the first 72 hours that maximum complications of a heart attack may occur. After discharge, there has to be a complete turnaround in the lifestyle, which includes dietary changes, regular exercise and aggressive control of risk factors. Also, the patient has to have a regular follow-up with his/her cardiologist.
As a heart attack may turn fatal, and as the saying goes, it is better to prevent than cure. There has been a rising trend of heart attacks in younger people in our part of the world, mainly due to environment, lifestyle, and possibly some unknown risk factors yet to be identified. The way to go is to eat healthy food, including fruits and vegetables, do regular exercise, control risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol and avoid smoking.