Infarct

A heart attack or myocardial infarction [1] is defined as a irreversible ischemic tissue damage, ie, due to lack of oxygen and nutrients, usually associated with a defect of blood perfusion (occlusion of the arterial supply or venous drainage). This situation will lead to cell death (necrosis), which will trigger a local inflammatory reaction. Not all infarctions are detected clinically because some functional changes do not affect significantly (micro-infarct), only detected through the marker enzyme dosage necrosis.
The best known is the infarcted myocardial infarction (In), or heart muscle. The cerebral infarction is called cerebrovascular accident (CVA).

Treatment

There is no home treatment for a heart attack, except emergency CPR - cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). If the patient loses consciousness and pulse and not breathing, you should do the RCP straightaway until he returns to breathe on their own. Conscious patients who may be having a heart attack should take an aspirin immediately.

Many deaths could be prevented if the victims or their families infarction not linger much to seek medical care. Studies have shown that, on average, victims infarction wait three hours to seek medical attention.

In virtually all cases, hospitalization is required after infarction. The treatment will probably begin in the hospital coronary care unit, with limited physical activity, early, and a gradual return to normal activities.

Several drugs are used in treatment of patients who suffered myocardial infarction: antiarrhythmic drugs, which inhibit the irregularities of the heartbeat; diuretics, which reduces stress on the heart removing excess water from the blood, antianginal agents, which alleviate pain in the chest, and sedatives, Relaxing the body. Beta-blockers are used to relieve the workload on the heart by decreasing their work, they decreased mortality in patients who have had heart attacks.

The interventional therapy during the first hours after infarction became common. It is usually performed first angiography (also called cardiac catheterization). In the procedure, a thin catheter is inserted into an artery in the arm or leg and taken through large blood vessels to the heart, for him, a contrast is injected into the coronary arteries, outlining them in an X-ray screen.

Once the area of ​​blockage is located, it may be possible to inject medication to dissolve it. In other cases, it may be made percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (also called balloon angioplasty). In this procedure, a long tube is inserted, the tip of which has a balloon, the arteries to the site of occlusion, and the balloon is inflated to open the occluded vessel (hereinafter the balloon is deflated and withdrawn). Rarely, surgery may be recommended for CABG (bypass surgery saphenous).

Prevention

Prevention of stroke begins with conscious habits of diet and health. People who do not smoke and do not eat too much saturated fat, but who exercise regularly and eliminate stress from your life as much as you may have less chances of suffering a heart attack. People who have suffered one or more heart attacks are capable of preventing further attacks by changing their habits.