Why Heart attack occurs? Mystery behind it.

What is a heart attack?

 A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, happens when a part of the heart muscle doesn’t get enough blood.

The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart muscle.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of heart
attack. 

What are the symptoms of heart attack?

The major symptoms of a heart attack are

• Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure,
  squeezing, fullness, or pain.
• Feeling weak, light-headed, or faint. You may also break out into a cold sweat.
• Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders.
• Shortness of breath. This often comes along with chest discomfort, but shortness of breath also can happen before chest discomfort.

What Do I Do if I Have a Heart Attack?

After a heart attack, you need quick treatment to open the blocked artery and lessen the damage. The best time to treat a heart attack is within 1 or 2 hours after symptoms begin. Waiting longer means more damage to your heart and a lower chance of survival.If you’ve called emergency services and are waiting for them to arrive, chew an aspirin (325 mg). Aspirin is a potent inhibitor of blood clots and can lower the risk of death from a heart attack by 25%.

Heart Attack Treatment

A heart attack is a medical emergency that needs immediate care to prevent permanent heart damage or death. Treatment often begins in the ambulance if you called 911, or in the emergency room if someone else took you to the hospital.

What drugs are used to treat a heart attack?

At the emergency facility or hospital, you’ll quickly get drugs to prevent further blood clotting in the heart and ease the strain on the heart. Drug therapy aims to break up or prevent blood clots, stop platelets from collecting and sticking to the plaque, stabilize the plaque, and prevent more ischemia.

You should get  these medications as soon as possible (within 1 or 2 hours from the start of your heart attack, if possible) to limit heart damage.

Drugs used during a heart attack may include:

• Aspirin to stop blood clotting that may make the heart attack worse
• Other antiplatelet drugs, such as clopidogrel, prasugrel (Effient), or ticagrelor to stop clotting
• Thrombolytic therapy ("clot busters") to dissolve blood clots in your heart's arteries
• Any combination of these Other drugs given during or after a heart attack help your heart work better, widen your blood vessels, lower your pain, and help you avoid life-threatening heart rhythms.

Are there other treatments for a heart attack?

Treatment may also include a procedure to open the blocked arteries.

Cardiac catheterization: In addition to making a picture of your arteries, cardiac cath can be used for procedures (such as angiography or stent) to open narrowed or blocked arteries.

Balloon angioplasty: This treatment can be done, if needed, during cardiac catheterization. A balloon-tipped
catheter (thin, hollow tube) is inserted into the blocked artery in the heart. The balloon is inflated gently to press plaque outward against the walls of the artery, to open the artery and improve blood flow. Most of the time, this is not done without putting in a stent.

Stent placement: In this procedure, a small tube is inserted through a catheter into a blocked artery to "prop" it open. The stent is usually made of metal and

is permanent. It can also be made of a material that your body absorbs over time. Some stents have medicine that helps keep the artery from getting blocked again.