A heart attack or a myocardial infarction is usually marked by symptoms of pain in the chest, shoulder, jaw, or left arm, and shortness of breath. Learn more about the causes, symptoms and treatments of a heart attack in this health video.
Consult a doctor immediately
Treat with aspirin or beta blockers
Reduce cholesterol, quit smoking, lose weight, & exercise
Call 911
Dr. Dave Weiland has been practicing cardiology in the Bay Area for 21 years. On top of operating a practice in San Pablo, CA for the past 15 years, Dr. Weiland works with eight other doctors in traveling all around the Bay Area to treat patients everywhere. Dr. Weiland graduated from the Ohio State Medical School in 1981; following that with an additional six years of study at Tufts University. Dr. Weiland received his training in cardiology at the New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and now teaches medical students about cardiology.
DAVE WEILAND, MD: Now, we're going to talk about heart attack. The term heart attack is a loosely defined term that to most cardiologists means myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction is the medical term which means death of the myocardium. The symptoms of heart attack or myocardial infarction usually involve pain in the chest. However, symptoms can be different in various patients and often myocardial infarction is missed for this reason. The pain can sometimes involve pain in the shoulder, pain in the jaw, pain in the left arm, tightness in the shoulder, left arm, jaw, or throat and sometimes the pain masquerades as pain in the back or pain even in the right shoulder. A typical symptom such as pain in the back, pain in the jaw only, pain the right shoulder are more common in women than in men and often times this can make the diagnosis more difficult. The symptoms of myocardial infarction are also sometimes associated with nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, and fainting. The treatment of myocardial infarction in this day and age is varied. In many emergency rooms in hospitals, the primary treatment is try to get the patient to the cardiac cath lab as rapidly as possible where one can perform an angioplasty or stent procedure which will prop open the blockage in the blocked segment of the coronary artery. Another approach is to give a clot-busting agent, a thrombolytic agent, which is given into the IV. This goes into the heart subsequently and busts open the clot in the artery providing improved blood flow. This would later be followed possibly by an angioplasty or stent procedure in 24 to 48 hours. Additional treatments involve the use of aspirin. Special blood pressure type medications will slow the heart rate and protect the heart such as a beta-blocking agent and giving medicines that will lower cholesterol. Heart attack prevention is a very important subject. Certainly, we know that reduction of risk factors that can cause heart attacks will reduce heart attacks. The risk factors that we can easily protect ourselves from include lowering cholesterol, quitting smoking, controlling diabetes, weight loss and trying to maintain a normal body weight and regular exercise. Anybody with a family history of heart attack or heart disease has an increased risk of a heart attack and therefore should try to modify these risk factors that I've just mentioned as much as possible. If one is suspected they're having a heart attack, it is wise to get to the emergency room as soon as possible. Occasionally, we see patients make the mistake of trying to drive themselves in the emergency room with a heart attack. We advise if someone is having the symptoms of a heart attack and certainly has risks of heart disease, such as diabetes or a family history, call 911. The paramedics are very well trained in the initial stages of treating a heart attack. It can alert the emergency room staff to the heart attack victim enabling other steps to getting place as quickly as possible in the treatment of the patient with heart attack.
