What Happens During a Heart Attack
The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. The heart’s blood supply comes by way of the coronary arteries, carrying the oxygen and nutrients required for it to function properly. Red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and other substances flow freely to the heart. The red blood cells carry oxygen, while the function of the white blood cells is to fight infection.
If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as they should. Fatty matter, calcium, proteins, and inflammatory cells build up within the arteries to form plaques of different sizes. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside.
When the plaque is hard, outer shell cracks (plaque rupture), platelets (disc-shaped particles in the blood that aid clotting) come to the area, and blood clots form around the plaque. If a blood clot totally blocks the artery, the heart muscle becomes “starved” for oxygen. Within a short time, death of heart muscle cells occurs, causing permanent damage. This is a heart attack.
While it is unusual, a heart attack can also be caused by a spasm of a coronary artery. During a coronary spasm, the coronary arteries restrict or spasm on and off, reducing blood supply to the heart muscle (ischemia). It may occur at rest and can even occur in people without significant coronary artery disease.
Each coronary artery supplies blood to a region of heart muscle. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and the time between injury and treatment.The longer it takes to get help the more extensive the heart damage. Fortunately, atherosclerosis can be prevented, thus lowering the risk of having a heart attack.
It is important to slow the progression of the disease process. This can be accomplished by medications, and reducing your risk factors. You can reduce risk factors by losing excess weight, starting a low fat - low cholesterol - low saturated fat diet, quitting smoking, control of diabetes and hypertension if present, and regular exercise.
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