Anjelina Suarez

ISM- 1st

“Heart Attack.” National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/heart-attack.

 Another term for Myocardial Infarctions or MI are heart attacks.

 Myocardial Infarctions happen when the flow of oxygen gets blocked and cannot be
accessed to the heart.
 When the flow of oxygen to the heart fails then the heart muscle starts to die.
 Treating heart attack immediately is the best option for health.
 If someone is having a heart attack call 911.
 Heart attacks cause coronary heart disease, or CHD.
 Also known as coronary artery disease. Coronary heart disease is when plaque
builds in coronary arteries.
 Arteries in your heart keep blood in your heart.
 Atherosclerosis builds when plaque builds in arteries over several years.
 Plaque can rupture or break open in the artery.
 Blood clotting can happen on the surface of the plaque.
 If clot is severely big, it can block the flow of the blood to the coronary artery.
 If one is not to treat the blocking as quick as possible, the area of the heart muscle given
by the artery can die.
 Scar tissue will replace the original healthy heart tissue.
 Heart damage may not be obvious.
 Heart damage may cause bad and long-lasting problems.
 A less common heart attack can be severe spasms or tightening or coronary artery.
 Spasms can occur and not be related to atherosclerosis.
 Heart attacks or Myocardial Infarction can lead to heart failure or arrhythmias which is
life-threatening.
 Heart failure is when the heart cannot and will not pump enough blood to keep the
body healthy and living.
 Arrhythmias is when the heart beats irregularly.
 If not treated immediately, ventricular fibrillation is a high life-threatening arrhythmia
that will cause death if not handled immediately.

This source gave a tremendous amount of help to me personally because it gave me access to a
better understanding on what I will need to know for my final presentation when I have to
describe Myocardial Infarctions.
 Anjelina Suarez
ISM- 1st
“Myocardial Infarction Treatment & Management.” Myocardial Infarction Treatment &

Management: Approach Considerations, Prehospital Care and Initial Management,

Emergency Department Care and In-Hospital Management, 16 Mar. 2018,

emedicine.medscape.com/article/155919-treatment.

 The first and primary approach for Myocardial Infarction is to diagnose the problem in a
fast manner.
 Restoration of perfusion should be the first therapy for Myocardial Infarctions.
 The goal is to restore as much hindered myocardium as possible.
 Medical or mechanical means takes a huge impact in treatment.
 Treatment can be percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or coronary artery bypass
graft (CABG) surgery.
 Acute coronary syndrome is similar, but you have to know the two different types of
Myocardial Infarction to know what is the right treatment.
 The two different types are ST-elevation MI (STEMI) or a non–STEMI (NSTEMI).
 Differences can include urgent therapy.
 Can also include a number of proof regarding different types of pharmacologic items.
 Every 1 in 300 chest pain patients coming to the hospital in an emergency private
vehicle goes into cardiac arrest in route.
 This is very convenient because that means we have developed new ways to keep
patients safe and saved in enough time to treat them.
 In the United States, statistics show that STEMI (ST-elevation MI) patients typically don’t
call 911, 40% of patients with coronary problems use a EMS.
 Morality is avoided if patient catches Myocardial Infarction and treats it early.
 Myocardial infarction is an ‘irreversible death’ (necrosis)
 Heart muscle is secondary to lack of oxygen supply (ischemia).
 1.5 million cases of MI occur in the United States.

This website helped me understand my second research topic and will help me a lot with my
final presentation when I have to cover medical treatment and management, it was very
interesting to see how much the heart is impacted by this disease.
 Anjelina Suarez
ISM- 1st
Klabunde, Richard E. “The Pharmacologic Treatment of Myocardial Infarction.” Image for

Cardiovascular Pharmacology Concepts, Richard E Klabunde PhD, 13 Mar. 2007,

cvpharmacology.com/clinical%20topics/myocardial%20infarction.

 Myocardial infarction is an irreversible damage of myocardial tissue because of ischemia and

hypoxia.
 This happens when the artery becomes ruptured (atherosclerotic) plaque.
 This can cause blood clotting (coronary thrombosis).
 Triggers coronary vasospasm. If a vessel is occluded, the myocardium becomes ischemic
and hypoxic.
 Without oxygen, the tissue dies.
 Damaged tissue is comprised of the necrotic core surrounded with marginal (or border) zone.
 This can recover to function normally or it can damage completely (irreversible).
 The hypoxic tissue can cause arrhythmias.
 Collateral blood flow and make infarct size.
 Collateral blood flow can also decide if the border zone becomes damaged forever.
 Infarcted tissue does not help with the tension during systole.
 Therefore, this can change ventricular systolic and diastolic function
 This can disrupt the electrical activity in the heart.
 After a long time, the infarcted tissue forms a fibrotic scar.
 Some long-term consequences are the remaining myocardium can make ventricular
remodeling.
 Development of hypertrophy, dilation.
 Ventricular failure, arrhythmias, and death.
 Myocardial infarctions make symptoms like chest pain, can radiate into the neck, jaw or arms
(i.e., referred pain).
 Sense of substernal heaviness, squeezing or pressure, shortness of breath (dyspnea).
 Fatigue, syncope, nausea, diaphoresis.
 Anxiety, sleeplessness, hypertension or hypotension (depending on level of cardiac
damage).
 Tachycardia, and arrhythmias.
 Clinical research shows symptoms can be different between men and women.
 Chest pain is not as common in women than men.
 Women are most common symptoms include weakness, fatigue, and dyspnea.

This article was very eye-opening and gave me a better understanding of the pathophysiology
of Myocardial Infarctions and made me develop better background information for my final
presentation and product.