The Heart Of Myocardial Infraction

The heart is controlled by an electrical system of the heart. This electrical system (Figure 1.1) of the heart includes several functions which hold the contraction of the heart muscles. The SA node starts the heartbeat by contracting the upper two chambers of the heart known as atria. This electrical impulse travels through bundle bunches and Purkinje fibers. This pathway of electrical impulse contracts the lower chamber of the heart called as ventricles. From

The heart is divided into four chambers. The top two chambers are the atria and the bottom two chambers are the ventricles. Two of the chambers, together make up the right heart and pump blood to your lungs, where it picks up oxygen. Blood that is carrying oxygen then travels to the two chambers on the left side of your heart, which then pumps the blood to the rest of your body. The ventricles (the bottom chambers) are powerful pumping chambers, which push the blood out of the heart when they contract. The smaller and less powerful top chambers of the heart (the atria), help to fill the ventricles with blood for the next contraction. The regulation and coordinated pumping action of the heart is provided by a network of electrical connections, which deliver electrical signals to the heart

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).

Around every thirty-four seconds in the United States, another individual falls as a victim to a myocardial infraction. A myocardial infraction or more commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when the blood flow that brings the oxygen to the heart is reduced or cut off completely. When the blood cannot reach parts of your heart, that area is becoming damaged or unfortunately if treatment is prolonged for too long then the heart cells will most likely die. Heart attacks can occur in anybody no matter the age, gender, or nationality, but statistically “men over the age of 45 and to women over the age of 55 are at the greatest risk of a heart attack” (Ricciotti).

(atrioventricular) node then stimulates the ventricles to contract which pumps blood out of the heart.

The heart is a muscle that is divided into four chambers. The top of the heart has two atria while two ventricles are located on the bottom. When the heart is healthy, the heartbeat will begin in the right atrium. The right atrium will send an electrical signal across the heart spreading throughout the atria to the AV node, then to the ventricles. This electrical impulse, occurring about 60 to 100 times per minute, causes the heart to contract. Each contraction equals a single heartbeat. According to the Human Diseases and Conditions article , under some conditions, almost all heart tissue is capable of starting a heartbeat, or becoming the pacemaker. A dysrhythmia occurs when:

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one cause of death in women, yet most women are not aware of their own risk. In the past, heart disease and myocardial infarction (MI) has been associated with men, which has lead to a misunderstanding within the public that women are not at risk. This has further lead to an oversimplified description of symptoms associated with men, which has been detrimental to women (American Heart Association). Davis et al. (2013) noted in her study that approximately every 34 seconds in the United States someone suffers an acute coronary event, and half of these are resulting in death. She describes that women are found to delay pre-hospital treatment longer than men, which is one of the most reliable indicators for MI complications at the hospital, not limited to recurrent ischemia, re-infarction, ventricular arrhythmias, and cardiac death. Women who had both non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors such as age, ethnicity, high cholesterol, hypertension, low socioeconomic status, and lower educational levels were found to delay hospital treatment with acute coronary syndromes even longer than those without these risk factors (Davis, Mishel, Moser, Esposito, Lynn, & Schwartz, 2013). Kalman et al. (2012) states that “Cardiovascular disease research until the late 1980’s sampled predominately men so the picture of normal cardiac symptoms is skewed toward a male diagnostic picture. Women, with a different set of

disease. Myocardium is the heart muscles. It's getting it's oxygen and nutrients through the coronary

The heart pumps blood throughout the body and transports oxygen, nutrients to all of the cells within the human body. This type of muscle is found in the walls of the heart. This type of muscle cell is involuntary, it pumps blood throughout the body and we have no conscious control of this muscle because if we did and we controlled the cardiac muscle to stop, our heart would stop beating which means our muscles, tissues or cells would not get oxygen and nutrients which could cause severe damage to our body. Th muscle tissue consists of cardiac muscles cells which interlock with each other, giving the tissue its properties, the muscle cells have a branched shape which ensures that a single cell is in contact with other cardiac cells. A cardiac cell on its own is not strong enough to pump blood throughout the body but the quality of the cells that interlock, makes it easy for the muscle to pump blood throughout the body within seconds. The signals from interlocking cells allows the muscle to contract extremely quickly pumping blood throughout the body. Cardiac muscle has a high contractile strength and endurance as it spends most of its life pumping blood throughout the body. Certain cells called pacemaker cells stimulate other cardiac muscle cells, which gives the muscle its own contraction

The heart is a vital organ that pumps oxygenated blood to the whole body by repeated rhythmic contractions, and continued heart beats are essential for the body to live. The heart is an electromechanical pump, the electrical activity of the heart acts to trigger and synchronise mechanical contractions. The heart’s natural pacemaker initiates electrical activity that spreads in the ventricles as shown in Figure 1.1 (a), which shows activation isochrones for the human ventricles [1]. The electrical activity of the heart can be recorded using electrocardiogram (ECG); Figure 1.1 (b) shows the ECG recording for the normal heart rhythm where each beat is registered as a single event.

In clinical settings, the most commonly utilized imaging methods for chronic and acute infarction is echocardiography, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), radionuclide ventriculography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Less common imaging techniques for myocardial infarction includes positron emission tomography (PET) as well as X-ray computed tomography (CT) 52. Each of these imaging techniques has a considerable overlap with the functionalities that they can assess, with each of them to a greater or lesser extent able to analyze myocardial viability, function, and perfusion.

Myocardial infarction, commonly referred to as “Heart attack” refers to the death of cardiac muscle as a result of prolonged severe ischemia.

Cardiac muscle is found in the heart, hence why is it named this. The heart is able to perform a beat because cells are connected together by intercalated discs. The heart is an involuntary muscle, meaning it works automatically. The rate of the contractions are quite steady but the hearts pacemaker can be made to go quicker or slower by certain nerves. The presence of a pacemaker enables the cardiac muscle to control its own contraction rhythm. If the nervous system doesn’t produce a stimulation then the pacemaker will remain a regular heart rhythm. Cardiac muscle is like a rectangular shaped cell which contains regions known as intercalated discs. Within these discs there are gap junctions and desmosomes. The gap junctions are responsible

With a lifelong passion for the sciences, I became interested in adult nurse practitioner cardiologist. Before pursing my education as NP, I lost two important people in my life for heart disease, my father and my fifteen year old daughter. I realized that I enjoyed making a difference in people’s lives and empowering patients to be active participants in his/her own healthcare through education and strong patient –healthcare provider relationship. I feel that I can lead patient to achieving his/her health goals by provide support for the patient at the same time focuses on myocardial infraction (MI) prevention through health promotion by emphasizing lifestyle modifications to enhance overall quality of life.

Under normal, healthy conditions the human heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute. In the course of a day, the heart pumps an equivalent of 2,000 gallons of blood, carrying essential oxygen and other nutrients to all of the body's cells. Ultimately, the brain coordinates this complex process, but the heart also has its own semi-independent power station. Most of this electrical activity is carried out by pacemaker cells located in the upper right-hand portion of the heart muscle known as the sinus node. From the sinus node, beat impulses are relayed to other areas of the heart via special groups of interlocking relay cells.