(11) Heart Attack and Cardiac Disorders

VERY IMPORTANT

VIDEO

The anatomy of a heart attack

What is a heart attack?

A heart attack (myocardial infarction or “MI” in medical terms) is the worst event of coronary artery disease.

It results from the blockage of one or more coronary arteries. Heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the United States and many other industrialized countries. About 1.5 million people in the United States suffer from heart attack each year, but many people recover because of advanced medical and surgical treatment. MI occurs when severe atherosclerosis blocks blood vessels, thereby interrupting the blood circulation through the coronary arteries that serve regions of the heart muscle.

Consequently, a heart attack is manifested by dead tissue in a portion of the heart muscle. Recently, many medical and surgical devices and medications have become available for the restoration of a partially dead heart muscle to minimize the tissue damage and to improve the outcome.

Heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the United States and many other industrialized countries.