Heart Attacks: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Heart attacks strike approximately 1 million Americans every year and kill more than 400,000 people. Immediate emergency heart attack treatment greatly increases your chance of surviving a heart attack. Delaying treatment, however, can be deadly: Fifty percent of fatal heart attacks kill within one hour of onset.

 

In spite of these figures, many people try to withstand chest pain or ignore it and other heart attack symptoms. People often mistake a heart attack for other causes of chest pain or are embarrassed to rush to the emergency room for what might be a false alarm.

 

Chest pain should always be taken seriously and the root causes of chest pain should always be determined. The rule of thumb with chesty pain is simple: It's better to be safe than sorry.

A number of conditions can cause heart attacks, but the end result is always the same: Blood flow to the heart muscle, or myocardium, is seriously reduced or interrupted. Heart muscle tissue begins to die after 20 minutes without regular blood supply and continues to die as the heart attack runs its course, which can take anywhere from six to eight hours.

Presuming a heart attack isn't fatal, dead heart muscle tissue is replaced with less flexible scar tissue, which impairs heart function and increases the risk of future cardiac events.

Atherosclerosis complications are the most common heart attack causes. Atherosclerosis occurs when fatty cholesterol plaques build up inside the arteries, narrowing the arteries and increasing blood pressure. Eventually, the plaque tears open or ruptures, causing damage to the artery.

The damaged area caused by a ruptured plaque provides a location for blood clots to form. When the blood clot grows large enough, the artery is blocked and blood flow is severely reduced. If the blockage occurs in a cardiac artery (an artery that supplies blood to the heart muscle), a heart attack occurs.

Atherosclerosis blockages account for most heart attack causes. A coronary artery spasm is a less common hear attack cause. In a coronary spasm, a severe muscle spasm blocks blood flow to the heart.

Chest pain is a classic heart attack symptom. However, chest pain can also be caused by many benign conditions. Therefore, it's not surprising that people often dismiss heart attack symptoms as less than serious.

Chest pain caused by a heart attack is variously described as "crushing" or "squeezing." Some people even describe the pain as "fullness" in the chest. Heart attack chest pain often radiates to the shoulders, back, neck, jaws and arms. Heart attack pain is frequently associated with pain in the left arm but can be experienced in either or both arms. Headaches and toothaches may also result from radiating chest pain.

The clearest indicator that chest pain is due to a heart attack is duration. If chest pain occurs for five or more minutes, seek medical attention immediately. Other causes of chest pain can also result in lasting chest pain, but all lasting chest pain must be taken seriously.

In addition to chest pain, heart attack symptoms include less obvious conditions. It is important to note that individual heart attack symptoms vary: Not everyone suffering a heart attack experiences every heart attack symptom.

Possible heart attack symptoms include:

Chest pain is typically thought of as the defining heart attack symptom, but a heart attack can strike without chest pain or any other symptoms. In fact, 25 percent of heart attacks are silent and have no noticeable symptoms.

A lack of symptoms does not reduce the seriousness of a heart attack: A heart attack without symptoms is just as serious as a heart attack that causes severe chest pain.

 

Heart attack risk factors are the same for men and women. Being male slightly increases the risk of a heart attack, but heart attack risk evens out for both sexes with age.

Some heart attack risk factors are unavoidable: You can't alter genetic risks. Other heart attack risk factors care controllable, including smoking and obesity.

Common heart attack risk factors include:

Heart attack treatment includes medication and surgery. In addition, doctors might need to use a defibrillator (a machine that administers an electrical shock) to reset the heart's electric signals.

Aspirin is often prescribed to heart attack victims, as the drug thins the blood and helps prevent further clotting. Beta blockers and other medications can also be used to relax the heart and lower blood pressure.

Heart attack surgery can include bypass surgery, where the surgeon creates a new arterial pathway to divert blood around the blockage.

Preventative medication, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs and beta blockers, are used to reduce the risk of heart attack. Aspirin is often part of a heart attack prevention regime, but only when prescribed by a doctor.

Lifestyle changes can be effective heart attack prevention. Not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising are all advisable. Controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels are also recommended for heart attack prevention.

Resources

American Heart Association. (n.d.). Heart Attack. Retrieved November 3, 2007, from the American Heart Association Web site: www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4578.

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (November 20, 2006). Heart Attack. Retrieved November 3, 2007, from the Mayo Web site: www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-attack/DS00094/DSECTION=1.

Lee, D.; Kulick, D. (updated April 18, 2007). Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction). Retrieved November 3, 2007, from the MedicineNet Web site: www.medicinenet.com/heart_attack/article.htm.