Angina is a medical term simply meaning lack of oxygen to the heart.  Lack of oxygen to any area of the body will cause pain in time since oxygen is the nutrients to our tissues in the human body.  Since the heart is in our upper chest angina will cause pressure or pain in the chest area and could radiate down the left arm.  Angina is reversible, no damage has occurred to the heart, but don’t get it treated and a heart attack will soon occur.

A Myocardial Infarction (MI) is just another name for a heart attack.  The coronary arteries supply the heart muscle which is called the myocardium in medical terms.  When one of these arteries are blocked and the blood supply is cut off partially to completely an MI can definitely occur.  The problem here is actual damage and scarring occurs at the area of where the MI took place in the heart.  Cell death does not occur immediately once the artery is blocked.  It takes several minutes to start the injury process and this continues for several hours unless the artery is opened up and blood flow is restored.

Cause:

The reason for the blockage is usually a buildup of plaque (deposits of fat-like substances) in the walls of the coronary arteries.

The plaque buildup narrows the walls of the artery and can cause blood clots to occur.  Plaque buildup is caused by a disease known as artherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).  An artherosclerotic plaque is a made up of cells, cholesterol, and other fatty substances.  The plaque develops in the wall of the coronary artery and over time becomes large enough to start narrowing the channel through which the blood travels.

The pool of lipid (the fat) within the plaque is covered by a thin fibrous cap.  This cap may split or fracture, exposing the blood to elements within the plaque that cause blood clot formation.

This clotting process may be controlled by the body, which contains substances to dissolve clots, or may lead to complete blockage of the artery.  When the artery is  blocked acutely for more than a few minutes, cell death start to occur.

Coronary heart disease is a very common disease and is the leading cause of death in the United States.  More than 500,000 men and women suffer a heart attack each year.

Are all heart attacks the same?   NO, A small heart attack means only a small amount of the heart muscle tissue has died.  Recovery in such cases is typically fast, and complications are to a minimum.

Large heart attacks that involve a large portion of heart tissue can cause problems like:  low blood pressure, shock, or heart failure because the heart’s ability to pump blood is reduced.  Recovery is typically longer in such cases and complications are at a higher potential of happening or death can occur.

Until the are of damage heals, the dead heart muscle is soft/weak and rupture of the heart wall can occur.  This usually results in death.  The normal rhythm of your heartbeat can change during a heart attack.  These rhythm abnormalities can be very serious and cause death if not treated promptly.

With prompt and effective treatment of a myocardial infarction, most potential complications can be avoided, and the mortality rate can be reduced dramatically.

Recovery for a heart attack:

In years past, hospitalization was often prolonged, lasting 3 to 4 weeks.  Today, hospitalization following a heart attack is usually brief in the absence of complications.  Often patients are home within 4 to 5 days or sooner.  Activities will be restricted for a few weeks to allow the healing process to occur.  The damage to the heart tissue will usually heal in 4 to 8 weeks.  The heart forms a scar tissue that is permanent; just like what would happen if any other tissue of the body suffered damage. (ex. You cut yourself with a knife damaging your skin (which is tissue and a organ of the body, than get stitches by the doctor which heal on their own in time  and  a scar in that area remains for life).  The same thing occurs to the heart in a MI.

Many patients will participate in a formal cardiac rehabilitation program.  These pro- grams typically focus on exercise and other lifestyle changes in order to speed recovery, and to fight the coronary artery disease that originally caused the heart attack.  Cardiac rehabilitation is so vital, it helps people to resume normal activity to their optimal level as quickly as possible with whatever adjustments they needed to make in their life to prevent this from happening again whether it be diet, exercise balanced with rest, and medications to take (new or adjustments in doses) or all 3.