One of the terrible diseases that have recently occurred with frightening frequency is myocardial infarction. In such a situation, the heart suffers in sections - a certain percentage of muscle fibers die. The situation is provoked by insufficient blood flow in the affected element. Medical statistics have repeatedly investigated this issue, and the collected analytics show that a heart attack is most dangerous for people 40-60 years of age. The risk is higher for men, but among the female half of humanity, the frequency of this problem is 1.5 times less, or even twice.
What is it about?
Usually causes myocardial infarction in ischemia, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis. The likelihood of such an outcome is higher if a person smokes, is overweight, leads an inactive lifestyle. Particular attention should be paid to the abuse of tobacco products - the process of smoking is associated with a narrowing of the cardiac coronary vessels, so the muscle fibers of the organ do not receive the necessary volumes of blood, and at the same time - oxygen and nutrients. Despite the groupingthe risk of people of predominantly middle and old age, addiction to smoking makes the risk of heart attack higher among young people. Sometimes an infarction is the primary manifestation, allowing the diagnosis of ischemia.
As can be seen from medical statistics, to this day, many ordinary people do not know what it is - myocardial infarction. The consequences that it can provoke are also not very well known among the general public, so people do not take measures to prevent such a disease. But the statistics are relentless: among older patients, heart attack is one of the most common causes of disability. Of every hundred patients, a fatal outcome is recorded in 10-12 cases.
Where did the trouble come from?
For the heart to function normally, it is necessary to ensure the supply of oxygen and components (mineral, vitamin) that the fibers need for active life. The supply of everything necessary is realized through an extensive circulatory system of the coronary vessels. If one of them becomes blocked, a heart attack is diagnosed.
As can be seen from the statistics, blood clots are one of the most common causes of coronary vessel obstruction, and such a formation is formed from a plaque caused by atherosclerosis. The oxygen reserves accumulated in the cells are sufficient to maintain viability within a ten second time period. For about half an hour, the muscle is viable, even if the artery is blocked by a thrombus.
The next stage of a disease such as myocardial infarction is irreversible changes in muscle tissue. Since the start of the occlusal process, 3 - 6hours until the complete death of all cells of the damaged area. By checking the patient's condition in a hospital setting, it can be determined whether a small-focal lesion has occurred or whether the area is large. Sometimes a transmural form is diagnosed, which is characterized by full-thickness myocardial damage.
Clinic and diagnostics
It is quite difficult to formulate exactly all the features of the clinic of myocardial infarction, since the picture from patient to patient differs quite a lot. One of the serious difficulties is directly related to this - the timely formulation of the diagnosis.
Usually, the patient is checked on an electrocardiogram reading device, the nature of pain is clarified and blood is taken for biochemistry - in case of a heart attack, the analysis shows quite characteristic changes, from which it can be concluded that the heart cells are damaged. If the situation is doubtful, additional measures should be taken to assess the patient's condition. Most often, radioisotope methods of detecting a focus affected by necrotic processes come to the rescue.
Typical symptoms
Myocardial infarction can be suspected if prolonged pain bothers near the heart, behind the sternum. The sensations are described as pressing, squeezing, intense, reverberating in the shoulder blades, back, neck, arm. If you take "Nitroglycerin", the pain syndrome does not go away.
The patient sweats profusely, the skin turns pale, the state is close to fainting. However, the described symptoms are a classic picture, but onIn practice, manifestations are not always exactly like this.
In some cases, the disease manifests itself as a slight discomfort in the region of the heart, as if there were interruptions in the functioning of the muscle. There are also cases where a person did not feel pain at all. There is a possibility of atypical myocardial infarction. If the disease develops according to this scenario, there are tangible breathing problems, the stomach hurts a lot, and excruciating shortness of breath develops. Diagnosing the situation correctly is quite difficult.
Consequences: what to fear?
The disease is not only dangerous in itself, the complications of myocardial infarction are also terrible, especially severe ones that develop if measures are not taken in time to restore the work of the heart.
The situation can provoke an acute failure of the heart muscle, cause a heart rupture, irregular heartbeat, cause cardiogenic shock or other life-threatening conditions for the patient. Any complications provoked by a heart attack require urgent highly qualified assistance.
What to do?
Having noticed the symptoms of myocardial infarction described above in yourself or a friend, you must urgently contact the doctors, if possible, call for emergency help, describing all the features of the patient's condition by phone. Waiting for the doctor, you need to provide primary care to the person. The patient is laid down or seated so that he is comfortable, they are given a Nitroglycerin tablet or up to 40 drops of Corvalol for resorption.
When a doctor detects symptoms of myocardial infarction, as a rule, he takes measures to transport the patient to hospital as soon as possible.
A heart attack is treated strictly in the intensive care unit. In this case, analgesics, drugs that are effective as dissolving blood clots, as well as drugs to lower blood pressure are used.
The task of doctors is to reduce the volume of blood circulating in the heart as efficiently as possible to stabilize the patient's condition, as well as to normalize the heart rate. The effectiveness of any medication and other measures directly depends on the promptness of the patient's admission to the intensive care unit. The more time has passed since the onset of a heart attack, the worse the prognosis. Sometimes a matter of life and death is not even hours, but minutes.
Responsibility and consistency
After a myocardial infarction, it is necessary to undergo a rehabilitation course. The correctness of this interval, the correctness of the actions of doctors and the patient's compliance with the recommendations increase his chance of effective recovery. Specialists select therapeutic treatment based on the patient's condition, general indications and individual characteristics of the case.
Rehabilitation sometimes stretches up to six months, and a number of medications will have to be used daily for life. The correct implementation of medical instructions, adherence to a he althy lifestyle, complete cessation of smoking, combined with a reasonable diet, allow you to provide yourself with many years of high-quality life.
The best cure is prevention
To avoid a heart attackmyocardial wall, the most effective measures should be taken. Currently, medical studies of the population of the federal level are organized annually. A visit to the doctor to clarify the characteristics of the condition, the level of heart he alth, the identification of chronic pathologies, their treatment with appropriate means - all this helps to minimize the likelihood of a terrible heart disease.
If ischemia, hypertension or atherosclerosis is diagnosed, you do not need to wait until the thunder strikes, you should immediately give up bad habits and switch to proper nutrition, change your lifestyle and regularly use the means recommended by your doctor, both pharmaceutical, industrial, and herbal, if the doctor recommends.
Ischemia and infarction
Ischemia is one of the most dangerous diagnoses related to the functioning of the heart muscle. Recently, it has been put on an increasing percentage of the population. A similar disease in history is the reason for a thorough diagnosis of the coronary arteries. To do this, use a special approach - angiography.
Images, which are created using X-rays, make it possible to assess exactly where the plaques provoked by atherosclerosis are located, which parts of the heart muscle are most vulnerable, and also to assess the quality of the lumens of the coronary vessels. If a detailed examination has shown the presence of narrowing, special technologies can be used to expand the ducts from the inside:
- If the doctor decides that a particular patient needs such a procedure, he is referred for angioplasty.
- Moreone good option for preventing a heart attack is to implant a stent, that is, a frame made of metal that constantly keeps the vessel open.
- Sometimes there is an indication for bypass surgery. This is a rather complicated operation that requires the participation of a highly qualified doctor. It consists in the formation of new vessels connecting the arteries, the aorta. Such a duct will serve as an additional route for the blood that the heart muscle needs.
Stages of disease
It is customary to distinguish four stages of myocardial infarction, and each of them is characterized by individual characteristics, signs. Highlight:
- the sharpest period;
- spicy;
- subacute;
- scarring.
As can be seen from medical statistics, almost half of all cases for the patient are completely unpredictable. Many explain this by inattention to their condition, which is characteristic of many of our compatriots. However, up to 60% of survivors of myocardial infarction noted that they had previously been bothered by angina pectoris for quite some time.
The first signs of danger
You can suspect signs of myocardial infarction by pain in the heart area. Unpleasant sensations, signaling the possibility of a situation developing, can be felt in the ear and even the abdomen, jaw, shoulder and forearm. In some, the pains are at first rather weak, flaccid, in others immediately sharp, cutting. More often, sensations are disturbed after heavy exertion, sports, stress, accompanypowerful emotions. In 90% of cases, the root cause is atherosclerosis, which requires any modern person to be especially attentive to their he alth in general and to protecting the circulatory system from cholesterol, in particular.
Typically, attacks that indicate an increased risk of myocardial infarction begin a few weeks before the development of the situation in a severe scenario, although sometimes the signals can disturb for years. One thing unites them - no matter how long this interval lasts, without adequate qualified medical care, sooner or later it will certainly end with an attack, accompanied by tissue death.
Doctors are urged to consult a specialist at the first suspicion of the possibility of a heart attack, to take measures to prevent deterioration.
Next phase
If you ignore the primary symptoms, there is a high probability of acute myocardial infarction. Knowing its manifestations is necessary for everyone and everyone in order to recognize in time if the most acute period begins. It has already been indicated above which manifestations of this stage are the main ones. As an additional symptomatology, a sudden toothache, weakness and chills can act. May feel dizzy, accompanied by a rapid pulse.
The strength of pain sensations and their localization are determined by which element of the heart muscle was under attack. The pain is stronger, the larger the area covered by the process. There are also known situations when, during the acute phase, the heart stopped, and this was the only symptom of the condition.
The described period of a heart attack is the most dangerous. A certain percentage of muscle fibers die, the heart is forced to cope with the load, without having the same resources, and this can cause a complete stop. Suspecting symptoms, taking medication for angina pectoris and making sure that there is no pronounced effect from them, you should immediately contact an ambulance.
Disease progresses
After the most acute comes acute myocardial infarction. Symptoms are similar to the previous stage, but somewhat smoother, pain becomes weaker. Necrotic processes in the cardiac muscle fibers provoke fever. The temperature lasts for a week, sometimes longer, and the intensity of the heat depends on the localization of the dying area.
The next stage is subacute. This form of myocardial infarction is accompanied by normalization of the rhythm of the heartbeat, the temperature gradually normalizes. A couple of weeks after a heart attack, scars begin to form on the affected area of \u200b\u200bthe heart muscle. After that, the recovery period starts. At the same time, there are no symptoms as such, but angina pectoris continues to bother with regular attacks. If you do not start adequate treatment, there is a high probability of a recurrence of an attack.
To prevent this, the fight against atherosclerosis and ischemia should begin. Vascular lesions are dangerous not only for the heart, but also for the brain, as a detached plaque can clog the blood vessels that feed the brain tissue.
Special case: female patients
In such a situation, the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, the course of the disease and its treatment have a number ofspecific features. It was mentioned above that cases of the disease are more characteristic of the male sex, so the pathology in women is still poorly understood.
In many ways, protection against ischemia is provided by the presence in the body of a sufficient amount of estrogen, produced for almost a lifetime. Thanks to this compound, the risk of atherosclerosis is somewhat reduced, plaques do not grow so quickly. The hormonal compound in the body becomes less during menopause, so there is an increased risk associated with this age.
You can suspect a heart attack by swelling of the limbs - this symptom usually appears in the late afternoon. The approach of a dangerous situation is signaled by fatigue, which does not let go even after a long rest, shortness of breath. Some complain about malfunctions in the digestive system. By itself, a heart attack may not even be accompanied by severe chest pains, but often feel sick, the temperature and pressure rise. Possible toothache.
There is a possibility of complete absence of symptoms. Doctors note that this variant of the course of the disease is much more dangerous than the obvious form, since many simply do not attach any importance to what happened. It is among women that there is a high percentage of patients who learn about a heart attack that has occurred quite by accident as part of a diagnostic examination.
Men's case features
In a strong half of humanity, the treatment of myocardial infarction has its own characteristics associated with the course of pathology. You can suspect the disease by profuse sweating,severe pain and rapid pulse, weakness, high blood pressure. Previously, it was believed that the risk of such a pathology is typical only for people of forty years of age and older, but recently the situation has changed: more and more often the problem is diagnosed in young men. This is explained by low mobility in everyday life, malnutrition, saturated with harmful fats. More and more people are overweight and have diabetes. As can be seen from medical statistics, at a young age, a heart attack often occurs without symptoms.
Atypical case
Often, even in old age, the disease proceeds atypically. To a greater extent, this is characteristic of people who have previously had a heart attack (or even more than once). Atypical forms have several types:
- abdominal;
- asthmatic;
- cerebral.
The first is manifested by gastric indigestion, hiccups and vomiting, the second by suffocation, coughing. Cerebral infarction is expressed by dizziness, a person is close to fainting. An atypical form is possible with a pronounced pain syndrome, and teeth, neck, ear, leg, arm on the left respond with such sensations.
The acute form of the pathology often has no symptoms, it is detected only after a while, by chance, as a rule, when taking an ECG. The absence of pain during and after myocardial infarction is typical, as already mentioned, for patients with diabetes mellitus, since this pathology smooths out discomfort. At the same time, the case itself is much more serious than the others, because in the absence of symptoms, the patient simply does not know that he needs help.
Atherosclerosis and heart attack
Vascular atherosclerosis is the main cause of ischemia. The plaques that form in this disease in the circulatory system are composed of cholesterol deposits, calcium-rich cells, and some other components.
Much depends on the characteristics of the individual case. First, a very small growth is formed, which eventually grows, expands, preventing blood from flowing through the vessel. Due to such a neoplasm, the cells of the body do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients. However, the most dangerous thing happens when the plaque breaks off and begins to travel through the circulatory system. It can plug any vessel, if the size of the formation allows it. This is what leads to ischemia.
Localization of a plaque is a place of particular fragility, as the neoplasm changes the structure of cells. The vessel becomes thinner, it is threatened with a violation of integrity. The protective reaction of the body is the formation of a blood clot in order to block possible bleeding. Such formation grows rapidly and blocks the vessel. The greatest damage is done when a large duct is blocked in this way.
The reason for the violation of the integrity of tissues can be stress, strong emotion, physical overstrain. It is known that a heart attack occurs more often in the morning. This trend is especially characteristic for the repeated case. This is explained by the abrupt transition from the calmness of a night's rest to the activity of the morning rush.
