Heart Attacks
What you need to know about them!
What is a heart attack??
A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is permanent damage to the heart muscle. “Myo” means muscle, “cardial” refers to the heart, and “infraction” means death of tissue due to lack of blood supply.
Statistics
More than 233,000 women die annually from cardiovascular disease.
Heart Attack is a leading killer of men and women in the united states. Every 20 seconds one american suffers a heart attack
Symptoms
-Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breast bone.
-Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm.
-Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn).
-Sweating, Nausea, vomiting, or dizziness.
-Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath.
-Rapid or irregular heartbeats.
Causes
Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, the heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die.
A hard substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your coronary arteries. This plaque is made up of cholesterol and other cells.
Heart Attack diagram
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/heartattack/
Description of a heart attack
http://www.hearthealthyonline.com/heart-attack-stroke/heart-attack-stroke-basics/symptoms_ss1.html
Early warning signs
http://www.scai.org/secondscount/resources/detail.aspx?cid=5c0089a3-b89d-4ee2-8573-136de509930a
Heart attack
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.medimiss.net/2012/09/how-to-survive-heart-attack-when-alone.html
Signs of a heart attack
http://www.womenshealth.gov/heart-health-stroke/signs-of-a-heart-attack/
Prevention
Treatment
- Clot-busting medicines
- Angioplasty: is a non-surgical procedure that opens blocked or narrow conrary arteries.
- Medicines
Diagnosis
- Blood Tests
- Echocardiography
- Cardiac Catherization
MLA FORMAT FOR CITATIONS
1. "Heart Attack - WebMD: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and More." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart_disease_heart_attacks
2. "Heart Attack." Heart Attack. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/Heart-Attack_UCM_001092_SubHomePage.jsp
3. "How Is a Heart Attack Treated?" - NHLBI, NIH. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/heartattack/treatment.html
4. "Health Guide." Heart Attack. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/heart-attack/