Heart Attack:

A heart attack takes place when the supply of oxygen to the heart is reduced and you may experience pain that radiates to the back, jaw, throat, or arm or feel pressure in the chest. Nausea or shortness of breath with profuse sweating are some other indications that you may be having a heart attack.

Possible Causes of Heart Attack:

The coronary arteries provide a regular supply of blood to keep your heart muscle in working condition. Sometimes these arteries become narrow due to build-up of cholesterol and other deposits, also called plaque, so that blood is unable to flow through smoothly.

Often blood clots form around this plaque and the heart becomes starved for oxygen as the blood clots block the artery supplying blood. This results in damage of heart muscles and is called a heart attack.

Risk Factors of Heart Attack:

Non-modifiable risk factors for heart attack - you may not have much control on the following:

• Age: men older than 45 years or women older than 55 years are more prone to have a heart attack.
• Gender: Men have higher risk of heart attack than women. This evens out after the age of 70 years.
• Family history of heart attack: you may be at risk of a heart attack if your parents, grandparents or siblings had a history of heart attacks at an early age, especially before 50.

Modifiable risk factors for heart attack - you can try to keep the following under control:

• High blood pressure: sustained high blood pressure can damage arteries especially when present with other conditions, like obesity, high cholesterol or diabetes, increases your risk manifold.
• High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels: a high level of triglycerides, a type of blood fat associated with your diet, increases your risk of heart attack and a high level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is likely to narrow the arteries.
• Diabetes: increase in blood sugar levels increases your risk of heart attack.
• Obesity: obesity causes increased blood cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure and diabetes which may result in a heart attack. 
• Smoking.
• Illicit drug use: drugs like cocaine or amphetamines can trigger a spasm of your coronary arteries leading to a heart attack.
• Stress: excessive stress in daily life is a risk factor.

Signs & Symptoms for heart attack:

Heart attack symptoms could include any of the following:

• Extreme shortness of breath.
• Tightness, pain, or a squeezing sensation in your chest.
• Pain that radiates from your chest towards your arms, back, neck or jaw. 
• Discomfort, nausea or heartburn.
• Profuse sweating.
• Fatigue or dizziness.

Heart Attack Diagnosis:

If you experience any of these symptoms, visit Medcare for diagnostics and to identify possible heart attack causes:

• Electrocardiogram or ECG monitors your heart rate, rhythm and changes that could be indicative of heart attack.  Most importantly, it shows the extent of damage to your heart muscle and where it has occurred. 
• Blood tests: Cardiac enzymes like Troponin and CK MB are a sign of heart muscle damage and assists the heart specialist in understanding the size of the heart attack and the time it started. 
• Echocardiography is an imaging test which indicates if the heart is pumping normally. Any damage to the heart muscle can be picked up early by echo. Injuries to structures of the heart like valves, septum during the heart attack can also be observed.
• Cardiac catheterisation or cardiac cath, is used immediately after a heart attack to see which artery is blocked and to what extent.

Heart Attack Treatment in Dubai & Sharjah:

At Medcare, our cardiologist in Dubai and Sharjah can get you the appropriate heart attack treatment for your condition. It is imperative to restore the blood flow to the heart immediately after a heart attack.

Heart Attack treatment depends on the severity of the damage to the heart muscle and the age of the patient. The primary heart attack treatment is through medications followed by coronary angiography or angioplasty. At times, CABG surgery would be required.

Coronary angioplasty and stenting: by inserting a long, thin tube through an artery in your groin or wrist, doctors are able to locate the blockages in your arteries. After this either a balloon is used to open the blocked artery or a metal stent is inserted to keep the artery wall open.

Coronary artery bypass surgery: as the term suggests, doctors sew veins or arteries in place, past a blocked artery, thereby permitting the blood flow to the heart to bypass the affected artery.