Recognizing the symptoms can help you quickly receive the correct treatment. Acting quickly when you suspect a heart attack is coming on can greatly improve your chances for survival. Learn what to do. Both heart attacks and heartburn cause chest pain. However, there are distinctions between the two conditions. Learn how to tell the difference. An acute myocardial infarction is a heart attack. Learn about the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment of this life threatening condition.
Based on new evidence, a U. During a heart attack, blood supply that normally nourishes the heart with oxygen is cut off and the heart muscle begins to die. A heart attack can slow or accelerate your heart rate. Learn what happens to your heart, heart rate, and blood pressure during a heart attack. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Heart attack Heart failure Key differences When to get help Heart health tips Bottom line Your heart is a muscular organ that works to pump blood through your body.
What is a heart attack? What is heart failure? What are the key differences between a heart attack and heart failure? What can you do to improve your heart health? The bottom line. Read this next. Warning Signs of a Heart Attack. Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M. Is It a Stroke or a Heart Attack? How to Stop a Heart Attack. Medically reviewed by Gerhard Whitworth, R. Acute Myocardial Infarction heart attack.
This site uses cookies as described in our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Cardiac arrest, heart attack and heart failure — three terms that are familiar to most people, but often get confused with one another. While there can be some overlap between them in terms of cause and effect, they are actually three distinct heart-related issues, each with its own set of causes and treatments.
A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked, typically because of a blood clot or plaque that built up in the arteries over time. Your heart muscle needs oxygen in order to function properly, so when blood flow is blocked, the heart muscle begins to die because of lack of oxygen. This is why time is such a critical factor for people who suffer heart attacks — they must be rushed into surgery so that blood flow can be restored before irreversible damage occurs.
Importantly, the majority of heart attacks do not lead to full cardiac arrest; however, when cardiac arrest does occur, heart attacks are a common cause. A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely. View an animation of blood flow between the heart and lungs. This happens because coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood flow can become narrowed from a buildup of fat, cholesterol and other substances that together are called plaque.
This slow process is known as atherosclerosis. When plaque within a heart artery breaks, a blood clot forms around the plaque. This blood clot can block the blood flow through the artery to the heart muscle. Ischemia results when the heart muscle is starved for oxygen and nutrients.
The process of atherosclerosis has no symptoms. When a coronary artery narrows and constricts blood flow, other nearby blood vessels that serve the heart sometimes expand to compensate, which may explain why there are no warning signs.
Such a network of expanded nearby blood vessels is called collateral circulation, and it helps protect some people from heart attacks by delivering needed blood to the heart. Collateral circulation can also develop after a heart attack to help the heart muscle recover. When a heart attack occurs, the heart muscle that has lost blood supply begins to suffer injury. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and the time between injury and treatment.
Heart muscle damaged by a heart attack heals by forming scar tissue. It usually takes several weeks for your heart muscle to heal. The length of time depends on the extent of your injury and your own rate of healing. The heart is a very tough organ. Even though a part of it may have been severely injured, the rest of the heart keeps working.
But, because of the damage, your heart may be weakened, and unable to pump as much blood as usual. With proper treatment and lifestyle changes after a heart attack, further damage can be limited or prevented. Learn more about heart damage detection. The heart muscle begins to heal soon after a heart attack.
It usually takes about eight weeks to heal. Scar tissue may form in the damaged area, and that scar tissue does not contract or pump as well as healthy muscle tissue. As a consequence, the extent of damage to the heart muscle can impact how well the heart pumps blood throughout the body.
How much pumping function is lost depends on the size and location of the scar tissue. Most heart attack survivors have some degree of coronary artery disease CAD and will have to make important lifestyle changes and possibly take medication to prevent a future heart attack.
Taking these steps can help you lead a full, productive life. Learn more about recovering from heart attack. One very common type of chest pain is called angina. Acute coronary syndrome ACS : An umbrella term for situations where the blood supplied to the heart muscle is suddenly blocked.
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