In common parlance, when we talk about heart attacks we refer to the known pathology that affects the heart. However, few know that cardiac disease is just one of many possible types of heart attack.
The generic term infarct indicates the death, partial or total, of an organ, as a result of an insufficient blood supply. For example, if one of the coronary arteries - which have the task of supplying the heart - is obstructed by a blood clot (thrombus) or an embolus, a myocardial infarction (death of a segment of the heart muscle) can occur.
The infarct of an organ can also occur due to compression of an artery (for example due to the presence of a hernia, volvulus or tumor), due to its traumatic rupture (favored by hypertension and atherosclerosis) or due to a strong vaso-constriction (for example the cocaine vasoconstriction can cause a myocardial infarction)
In addition to the cardiac infarct, the most common types of infarction include intestinal infarction, infarction of the brain (commonly known as ischemic stroke), infarction of the lung, infarct in the bone and testicular infarction.
