heart attack the silent killer

Introduction

Heart failure has become a leading health problem worldwide . Its prevalence is also increasing as people are living longer . Poorly controlled hypertension is a primary cause of heart failure , which occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently to meet the metabolic needs of the body . Prevention of heart failure should be a major focus of antihypertensive therapy . Each year , about 1 .1 million American suffer a heart attack and about 460 ,000 are fatal . Half of the deaths occur within an hour of the start of symptoms and

before the person reaches the hospital . The medical name for heart attack , or coronary , is myocardial infarction wherein the primary physiologic organ and system involved are the coronary circulatory and myocardium

Myocardium is the cardiac muscle layer of the wall of the heart , which receives its blood supply , thus its oxygen and other nutrients , from the coronary arteries . If an artery is blocked by an occlusion , or spasm the myocardial cells do not obtain the sufficient oxygen , the portion of myocardium undergoes processes of degenerations . Although , such an attack may seem sudden , usually it has been building for years particularly if the person has ignored risk factors and early warning signs . The condition of heart attack is one of the most deceiving conditions since , the warning signs and symptoms do not exacerbate in some cases . Furthermore , the risk factors often accumulate n the body but the reaction of the heart towards it remain tolerable , which usually are ignored . However , the effect suddenly implicates a devastating manifestation that occurs in a very quick period hence , the term heart attack - silent killer ' has been identified in this condition Heart attack remains as one of the most fatal conditions as the human civilization progress its current lifestyle and practices

Chapter I : What is Heart Attack

When the supply of blood to the heart is sharply reduced or cut off the heart is deprived of needed oxygen . If blood flow is not restored within minutes , portions of the heart muscle begin to die , permanently damaging the heart muscle (1 , 465 . Heart attack occurs when heart muscle tissue dies because its blood supply is severely reduced or stopped . A heart attack is also called coronary thrombosis , coronary occlusion , or myocardial infarction . It may occur when one of the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart is blocked moreover , if the heart attack is severe , the victim may conjure death . Atheromatous plaque blocks 30 to 60 of a blood vessel and rupture , exposing its contents into the bloodstream and triggering a blood clot that completely shuts off the artery . If the heart stops beating cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR ) must be initiated (4 , 432

The deprivation of blood in the heart causes heart tissues to undergo necrosis or tissue death especially if blood is not restored within minutes . Upon the occurrence of oxygen deprivation , there is a rise in cardiac enzymes signifying tissue damage and echocardiographic changes in addition to classical clinical symptoms (6 , 97 . The...