Fundamentals of a Heart Attack
Holli Blohm
Instructor Lynette Love
Introduction Heart attacks , we have all seen them played out on our favorite drama shows but these shows do not address the real severity of an actual heart attack despite the great acting skills portrayed . A heart attack can also be known as a myocardial infarction (MI), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute coronary syndrome, coronary thrombosis, or coronary occlusion, either way it is not good news. Over 1.2 million people in American have heart attacks with many of them resulting in death (Heart attack, 2011). A heart attack is a serious life threatening condition that needs to be treated quickly.
Risk factors & Etiology
One of the main causes of a MI
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Expected Course
When someone is possibly having a heart attack they should seek medical help immediately. They should call 9-1-1 and wait for paramedics to arrive. The patient should take their nitroglycerin and chew an aspirin if it is prescribed by a physician or a paramedic. Aspirin in the event of a heart attack will help the clot from forming more (Heart attack, 2011). If a patient is unconscious and it is suspected they are experiencing a heart attack bystanders should begin CPR until help arrives (Symptoms, 2013). Once at the hospital tests will be done to rule out other chest pain related causes. The first test that will be done is an Electrocardiogram or an EKG, which records the hearts electrical activity. Damaged heart cells are not able to produce electrical impulses which will produce abnormal EKG results. Elevations in the ST waves on an EKG are classified STEMI and are present in over ninety percent of myocardial infarctions who had a complete occlusion to an artery (Cardiac Emergencies, n.d.). NSTEMI is where there is no elevation of the ST wave and is indicative that a full occlusion has not occurred (Cardiac Emergencies, n.d.). Blood tests will be done to assess troponin I, troponin T, creatine kinase (CK) and myoglobin which are classified as cardiac serum markers (Cardiac Emergencies, n.d.).
12 Lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) - There are typical changes to the normal pattern of the ECG in a heart attack. Patterns that occur include pathological Q waves and ST elevation (Koutoukidis, Stainton & Hughson 2013, p. 505). However, it is possible to have a normal ECG even if a patient has had a heart attack. The indicators for this test include: suspected myocardial infarction, suspected pulmonary embolism, perceived cardiac dysrhythmias, fainting or collapse, a third heart sound, fourth heart sound, a cardiac murmur or other findings to indicate structural heart disease. The
Cardiac Echogram- This is to identify structural abnormalities in cardiac function, cardiac output, abnormal valves and MI (Buttaro, Trybulski, Polgar-Bailey, & Sandburg-Cook, 2017).
7.ECG: To see the evidence of ischemic changes, cardiomegaly suggestive of heart failure or evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy.
A cardiologist usually begins with the noninvasive testing to see if the patient has CAD. The echocardiogram (echo) test is used when a patient may have chest pain, a previous heart attack, heart murmur, or a congenital heart defect (AHA, 2000). The echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the cardiac muscle. An echo is a test that uses a transducer to pick up sound waves which vibrate throughout the heart (Staff, 2011). The vibrations from the heart are accumulated to create a picture of the heart functioning (Staff, 2011).
These tests are called diagnostic tests. A 12 lead EKG is done to look at the electrical activity inside the heart. This EKG helps identify which areas of the heart may be damaged from the heart attack. Some medicines help stop blood clots from forming. They also keep existing clots from getting larger. Some drugs are known as clot busters. These drugs are given to dissolve clots that have already formed. Nitrates include the drug nitroglycerine. These medicines ease the coronary arteries and allow oxygen to reach the heart muscle. Nitrates also can reduce chest pain. Sometimes the patient is taken to an area of the called a step down unit. This unit will have different equipment and capably qualified doctors and nurses who provide the best current care
A physical examination, specifically auscultation of the heart, as well as an electrocardiogram and echocardiogram are used to assess the heart fully. Upon physical
A number of tests would be performed to analyze the extent of damage of the heart. An electrocardiogram would be one of the first tests performed to check the electrical
There are several types of test that can be performed to see if the individual presents the signs of cardiac tamponade. An Echocardiogram is the main test that is used in diagnosing and determining if the patient has cardiac tamponade. While performing an Echocardiogram, a sonographer will pay special attention to the pressure of the mitral and tricuspid valve. The sonographer will use PW Doppler on both of these valves and see the differences between the E waves and
The doctor, cardiologist, and other medical professionals will be looking for certain things to determine if a person has heart failure; for example, a third heart beat (besides the usual “lub” “dub”). Heart failure is diagnosed by certain symptoms along with certain medical tests (Krum, 2009). Some medical tests conducted by various kinds of doctors are the following: Electrocardiograms, Echocardiography, and MRIs. An electrocardiogram is a machine that displays a person’s heartbeat to assess electrical and muscular purposes of the heart. Electrocardiograms are helpful because it can rule out a certain type of heart failure (Krum, 2009). Echocardiography uses ultrasound technology to examine the heart. This test can help with the diagnosis of heart failure because it can give the medical professional information about the left ventricle. An MRI is a medical exam to determine if someone has heart failure because it gives an evaluation of the
(Usually) A man collapses to the floor, purple face, following a grimace of agony, and his hand clutching his chest. For Martha Lear, that is exactly the type of heart attack her husband repeatedly suffered from—and eventually killed him. After watching him go through several of these, she believed it to be the standard heart attack normal. It wasn’t until 34 years later that her assumption was challenged—after she suffered from her own heart attack. Her symptoms didn’t match her late husband’s, she describes it as suddenly feeling vaguely unwell, feeling a flutter in her chest which rose to her throat, small pressure in her chest, nausea, chills, diarrhea, and vomiting. A mixed array of symptoms that could be something or could be nothing, symptoms were non-distinct to any layperson. Her second husband assured her it was a stomach bug. When she called her doctor and described her symptoms, he told her she should come in for an EKG the next morning but it wasn’t necessary to rush to the ER but she should come in for an EKG the next morning. She showed up for her appointment the following morning and the EKG revealed that she had a substantial heart attack the night before—stunning both her and her doctor. The differences in treatment between her and her late husband are part of a long trend of women’s cardiac disease not being recognized as easily or treated as well men’s
according to the American Heart Association “about 70 percent of cardiac arrest happens at home and unfortunately only about 46 percent of the people who experience this get immediate help they need before professional help arrives.” So you could be saving a loved
Coronary heart disease have three clinical types; Non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS), unstable angina and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).Among them NSTE-AC have high mortality rate. Correct diagnosis and early management are important to improve clinical cardiac events in patients with Non-STEMI. The manifestation of serious cardiovascular adverse events varies markedly in ACS patients with enzyme markers, typical clinical features and electrocardiogram (ECG). Risk stratification may be helpful for the planning of early treatment program with drugs or coronary angioplasty. However, the accuracy of disagreement risk stratification such as normal or elevated value of troponin, normal or abnormal ECG is inadequate for prognosis interpretation, more information is needed.
lives. A simple definition of a heart attack is a sudden failure of the heart
In December of 1992, my paternal grandfather suffered a heart attack. He had been hauling several 50 lb. sacks of corn up into the deer feeder on his property by himself. He got into his truck, turned the ignition, put it into drive and before he could take his foot off the brake, he was dead. He was 68 years old. I was thirteen and that seemed so old. I remember that prior to the event there were many conversations within my family about the condition of my grandfather’s heart and cardiovascular system and how he needed to make lifestyle changes. I remember him taking nitroglycerine pills. I remember him coming to Dallas to go to an appointment so that they could perform tests with names like “stress EKG.” I
The electrocardiogram (EKG) is a simple test that measures the heart's electrical activity (Donahue p. 35). The most widely used screening test is the exercise EKG, or stress test.