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Myocardial Infarction

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Every forty four seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack. Each year, about seven hundred and fifteen thousand people have a heart attack. Myocardial Infarction literally means “death of the heart muscle”. Myocardial Infarction, a heart attack, occurs when the coronary arteries, that deliver oxygenated blood to the heart, is cut off. This happens when the arteries are blocked by plaque. Once the plaque is formed in the artery, there is no way for blood to get around it and all the blood gets backed up trying to find an alternate route to the heart. Once the plaque breaks, a blood clot forms around it and prevents blood flow. Cardiac Ischemia takes place when the blood loses its source of oxygen. If the heart goes too long without …show more content…
Women experience chest pain as well with a heart attack, but it is less likely. Most women experience nausea, dizziness, and shortness of breath as their symptoms. Nearly twenty five percent of heart attacks occur without any symptoms, resulting in many people not getting the help they need on time. If 911 is called, the emergency dispatcher will mostly like advise the victim to chew some aspirin to help until the ambulance arrives. If someone comes to the hospital showing signs of a heart attack, the doctor will move them to the emergency department where they will receive angioplasty, a surgery where the blood vessel is unblocked, or they receive a stent, which is placed inside the artery to remove the obstruction. In extreme cases, the patient might have to undergo heart bypass surgery, where a blood vessel is removed from another area of the body and places around the narrowed area to go around the blockage and restore the blood flow back to the heart. The healing process takes place soon after a heart attack and takes about eight weeks. The heart will be considerably weakened afterwards, but many are able to continue with their daily

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