Infarct: How to Recognize Symptoms and What to Do

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By Dr. Alessio Dini

Consequences of an Infarct

Myocardial infarction is caused by a sudden narrowing or complete occlusion of coronary vessels that carry oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood to the heart cells.

Sudden interruption of blood flow leads to cellular distress within minutes and the death of vascularized tissue from these arteries.

The infarcted area may vary in size and, depending on its extent, the residual cardiac function will be better or worse.

Early recognition of symptoms and early treatment reduce damage to the myocardium and mortality.

Causes and Risk Factors

The most frequent cause of occlusion is thrombosis, only rarely is it due to a coronary spasm.

Thrombosis is a natural consequence of atherosclerosis (formation of atheromatous plaques on the inner surface of the vessels), a long-lasting process favored by incorrect behavior and life habits, which add to familiarity and more or less known pathologies.

At this point we list the main risk factors :

Cigarette smoke
Dyslipidemia (hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia)
Hypertension
Diabetes mellitus
Overweight and obesity
Metabolic syndrome
Sedentary lifestyle
Male sex
Age (man> 50 years, woman> 60)

What to do if a heart attack is suspected

The person who believes he is dealing with a person suffering from a heart attack should immediately call 118 and, keeping in touch with this, perform the necessary maneuvers while waiting for help to arrive. In the event that the infarct follows the cardio-circulatory arrest it is in fact essential to immediately begin cardiac massage.

The time factor in this situation becomes in fact the most important element and the probability of successful defibrillation decreases rapidly with each passing minute.

If the symptoms are milder, the time factor is still important. The person must arrive quickly in the emergency room where the doctor, diagnosed with the heart attack, will proceed to the unblocking of the occluded coronary artery.

In essence, the earlier the action is taken, the higher the success rates, as the amount of saved heart tissue is proportional to the early date of reperfusion.

Can you recognize the symptoms of a heart attack? Take the Quiz and find out the answer

Symptoms

The symptomatology presents with a prolonged chest pain (angina) (> 20 minutes) which arises at rest and does not spontaneously regress.

This pain has certain characteristics:

variable intensity, generally intense and sometimes unbearable;
it is described as constricting, overwhelming, oppressive (typically "as a weight" or "a vice" in the center of the chest);
it is typically located behind the sternum, but also above the stomach (sometimes the pain is mistaken for heartburn associated with poor digestion)
it can radiate to the whole chest, especially the left side, to the left arm up to the wrist and fingers, but also to the shoulder, neck, jaw and between the shoulder blades;
may be accompanied by cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, weakness and dizziness.

Another manifestation can be fainting (in about one case in 10, this is the only symptom of heart attack ) and in a percentage of cases, 15-20%, the infarct can be painless (higher incidence in subjects diabetics).

In a small percentage, acute myocardial infarction may present with the characteristics of "sudden death".