Myocardial Infarction ( Heart Attack )

The most common physiological process leading to a myocardial infarction is the occlusion of coronary arteries by a process known as atherosclerosis. In fact, atherosclerosis is present in more than 90% of persons with coronary heart disease.1

Nevertheless, there is an understandable and noticeable link between circulatory related diseases and lifestyle diseases, such as Coronary Heart Disease. Coronary heart disease can occur when fatty acids, such as cholesterol in an inadequate diet, build up in the walls of the coronary artery. These fatty deposits collect minerals and harden to become a plaque. Eventually, this plaque grows and can swells up, forming an aneurism. In some cases, this aneurism may burst leading to instant death. As it continues to grow and swell up, it finally blocks the artery completely and forms blood clots. This is known as coronary thrombosis. A myocardial infarction, or in other words as heart attack, occurs when no oxygen is able to reach the coronary artery and thus it is unable to fulfil its role in providing the heart muscle with a sufficient supply of blood. Heart attacks are very common in the society nowadays, especially occurring in smokers or obesity related diseases (Millar, June 2014)

Myocardial Infarction (MI) is more commonly referred as the heart attack. This typically occurs due to an interruption, albeit partial to some part of the heart, which causes the cells in the heart to die and as a result sends

Heart muscle died as a results of myocardial infarction (MI) which the main coronary arteries was blocked, and large part of the heart muscle was affected due to cellular death from lack of blood flow and oxygen. Cell death is one of the most crucial events in the evolution of MI. A heart attack or MI is usually caused by a blood clot (thrombosis) that forms inside a coronary artery, or one of its branches, which suddenly blocks and stops the blood flowing to a part of the heart muscle. When the blood flow is interrupted necrosis occurs ( McCance & Huether, 2014).

e) Myocardial infarction: Myocardial infarction is a heart attack. “Myocardial infarction occurs when blood supply to a part of the myocardium is interrupted. This can be caused by a lack of blood flow, obstruction by a clot, or a rupture of plaque build up.”

The heart is an organ that pumps blood from the body and maintains all the organs functioning to keep one alive; when one of the arteries that receive blood is blocked it can cause a heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI). “During a heart attack, the heart muscle (the myocardium) is damaged, and part of it die from lack of blood” (book, p. 429).

Coronary heart disease (CHD), also known as ischemic heart disease is the most prevalent form of cardiovascular disease in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014). While over 20,000 of deaths in 2011 were attributed to CHD. There were estimated 590,000 Australians 18 years old and above diagnosed with CHD in 2011-2012 (AIHW, 2014; Craft, 2014, pg. 596). Myocardial ischaemia is a common form of CHD. A sufficient coronary artery blood flow is essential to supply oxygen for normal cardiac activities. Myocardial ischaemia develops when there is an insufficient supply of blood and oxygen to support the function of myocardial cells (Craft, 2014, pg. 599). A decrease in blood supply can led to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques by narrowing or occluding the arteries. Other conditions such as hypotension, coronary spasm, dysthymias, hypoxemia and anaemia can also decrease the blood and oxygen supply to the myocardial cells (McCance & Huether, 2014, pg. 1153)

Similar to other diseases coronary heart disease affects thousands of people. The disease affects the heart in that it causes a waxy substance called plaque where it builds up inside of the coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle. When a person has coronary heart disease the hardened arteries restrict blood flow, which means that the heart cannot receive enough oxygenated blood, especially when it beats quickly during physical exertion or stress. This can cause chest pain and shortness of breath. However, if the artery is completely blocked, a heart attack can occur. Lack of oxygen during a heart attack causes damage as the heart muscle dies and is replaced with scar tissue. If damage is severe, the heart

As the blood vessel progressively narrows from continuous cholesterol deposition, the myocardium is insufficiently supplied with oxygen making the heart ischemic. Eventually, viable tissue becomes necrotic increasing the likelihood of a myocardial infarction (MI). An MI can also occur if the fibrous cap is ruptured and a thrombus or embolus is released, completely blocking blood supply to the heart. This may be caused by a sudden increase in blood pressure, vasospasm, or tobacco chemical assault. 4(111)

It is not only the leading cause of death in the United States, but also it is the most common type of heart diseases. By killing nearly 380,000 people yearly, and that is about every 60 seconds someone dies from it. Yes, it is the heart attack or also known as coronary heart disease. Heart attacks occur when one of the coronary artery is blocked or narrowed by fats. After that, the blood clot will gather and block the narrowed artery causing a slowly painful death to the artery by decreasing the amount of oxygen, and replacing the live tissue with a dead one.

Cardiovascular disease is a global health problem causing nearly 1 in 3 deaths every year. Many of these deaths are due to coronary heart disease. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a major manifestation of coronary heart disease. In 1959, the World Health Organization defined MI as a combination of 2 of 3 characteristics: typical symptoms, enzyme rise, and a typical electrocardiographic (Patil, 2011).

Complications that can also cause myocardial ischemia are heart attacks, arrhythmia , and heart failure. For a patient that has had any of these complications before are at a hirer risk for developing myocardial ischemia. Risk factors would be previous heart attacks, hypertension , high blood cholesterol, smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity, diabetes, and drug and alcohol abuse. In order to prevent or lower the risk of having myocardial ischemia is to make life-style changes for the better. It is also important to never and try to diagnose one’s self and to contact your doctor’s office if you may have any concerns.

The American Heart Institute states, "your heart muscle needs oxygen to survive. A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely … When damage or death of part of the heart muscle occurs as a result of

A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, usually occurs when a blood clot forms inside a coronary artery at the site of an atherosclerotic plaque. The blood clot severely limits or completely cuts off blood flow to part of the heart. In a small percentage of cases, blood flow is cut off when the muscles in the artery wall contract suddenly, constricting the artery. This constriction, called vasospasm, can occur in an artery that is only slightly narrowed by atherosclerosis or even in a healthy artery. Regardless of the cause of a heart attack, the oxygen deprivation is so severe and prolonged that heart muscle cells begin to die for lack of oxygen. About 1.1 million people in the United States have a heart attack every year;

Eventually there are many risk factors for heart disease. But some risk factors for heart disease are under our control and some are not. Coronary