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Page Title Tag "Myocardial Infarction"

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Myocardial infarction (MI) is usually caused by a blood clot in a heart (coronary) artery. Phone for medical help immediately if you develop severe chest pain. A 'clot busting' drug should be given as soon as possible to prevent damage to heart muscle. Also, other treatments help to ease the pain and prevent complications. Reducing risk factors can help to prevent an MI.

Myocardial infarction (MI) means that part of the heart muscle suddenly loses it's blood supply. Without prompt treatment, this can lead to damage to the affected part of the heart. An MI is sometimes called a heart attack or a coronary thrombosis.

The heart is mainly made of special muscle. The heart pumps blood into arteries (blood vessels) which take the blood to every part of the body. Information on Embolism and heart attack. Like any other muscle, the heart muscle needs a good blood supply. The coronary arteries take blood to the heart muscle. The main coronary arteries branch off from the aorta. (The aorta is the large artery which takes oxygen-rich blood from the heart chambers to the body.) The main coronary arteries divide into smaller branches which take blood to all parts of the heart muscle.

If you have an MI, a coronary artery or one of it's smaller branches is suddenly blocked. The part of the heart muscle supplied by this artery loses it's blood (and oxygen) supply. This part of the heart muscle is at risk of dying unless the blockage is quickly undone. (The word 'infarction' means death of some tissue due to a blocked artery which stops blood from getting past.)

If one of the main coronary arteries is blocked, a large part of the heart muscle is affected. If a smaller branch artery is blocked, a smaller amount of heart muscle is affected. In people who survive an MI, the part of the heart muscle that dies ('infarcts') is replaced by scar tissue over the next few weeks.

The common cause of an MI is a blood clot (thrombosis) that forms inside a coronary artery, or one of its branches. This blocks the blood flow to a part of the heart.

Blood clots do not usually form in normal arteries. However, a clot may form if there is some atheroma within the lining of the artery. Atheroma is like fatty patches or 'plaques' that develop within the inside lining of arteries. (This is similar to water pipes that get 'furred up'.) Plaques of atheroma may gradually form over a number of years in one or more places in the coronary arteries. Each plaque has an outer firm shell with a soft inner fatty core.