Dr Atifur Rahman Zarin talk on 'Heart Attack'
Video courtesy Bangla Satellite channel ‘Bangla Vision’ Bangladesh. Dr Atifur Rahman.FRACP, working as a Clinical Director-CCU, at Gold Coast Hospital in Australia.
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Heart attack (Myocardial infarction) is usually caused by a blood clot that blocks blood flow in a artery supplying the heart. When part of the heart muscle suddenly loses its blood supply you experience pain. Without prompt treatment, this can lead to permanent damage to the affected part of your heart.
Symptoms-
The most common symptom of a heart attack is severe chest pain, which often feels like a heavy pressure/tightness feeling on your chest. The pain may also travel up into your jaw and down your left arm or sometime down both arms. You may also sweat, feel sick and faint. You may also feel short of breath and look pale. The pain may be similar to angina, but it is usually more severe and lasts longer. Heart attack pain usually lasts more than 15 minutes. Pain intensity may not correlate to the severity of heart attack. Some people have only a mild discomfort in their chest when they have an heart attack. The pain can sometimes feel like indigestion or heartburn. Typical chest pain/discomfort may be absent in diabetics and in elderly females. Heart attack occasionally happens without causing any pain (a “silent heart attack”), which is more common in one with diabetes. This is usually diagnosed when you have an ECG or ultrasound of your heart at a later stage. Some people can collapse and die suddenly following a heart attack.
What to do-
First, you must call 000 for an ambulance. Do not try to drive yourself to the emergency room. Besides the risk of long-term damage to your heart muscle, following a heart attack your heart is at risk of going into sudden serious rhythm disturbances that stops your heart muscle from pumping blood, called cardiac arrest. The best treatment for cardiac arrest involves using a defibrillator to give your heart a controlled electric shock that may make it start beating again. All the ambulances in Australia are equipped with a defibrillator .In absence of a defibrillator your family members CPR skill can save your life.
Treatment options –
Treatment with a clot dissolving drug or an emergency procedure (angioplasty and insertion of a stent )to restore the blood flow through the blocked artery are usually done as soon as possible to prevent damage to your heart muscle. Clot dissolving treatment can rapidly dissolve the blood clot that has blocked the artery. Studies have shown that approximately 50% of occluded arteries can be opened by giving these drugs early in the course of a heart attack, and that patients whose arteries are opened end up with significantly less heart damage and a significantly better chance of long-term survival.
Coronary angioplasty, also know as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), is a procedure in which a catheter-guided balloon is used to open a narrowed coronary artery. A stent (a wire-mesh tube that expands to hold the artery open) is usually placed at the narrowed section of the artery during angioplasty and left in place to keep your artery open.
When available and performed promptly by an experienced operator angioplasty gives better short time and long term prognostic benefit and is the preferred treatment option.
Australian Heart Foundation recommend that every adult and teenager learn the lifesaving skill of CPR.The Heart Foundation continues to provide a range of CPR resources, including a “CPR – Saving Lives” booklet, a CPR poster and CPR wallet card. To order our resources, call Health Information Service on 1300 36 27 87 or email http://www.heartfoundation.org.au
