Heart attack

Heart attack: Introduction

Heart attacks or "acute myocardial infarction" (AMI), are very common and also very deadly. The underlying cause of a heart attack is usually "coronary thrombosis", which is a blockage of the blood vessels of the heart. When the heart actually stops in a heart attack, this is called "cardiac arrest". The most common symptom is chest pain or chest discomfort, but these may also be mild or even absent, and in many cases even the patient is uncertain if they are having a heart attack. If there is any doubt, seek immediate emergency medical help.

The classic fatal misdiagnosis of heart attack is a person believing that their chest pain is simply heartburn (i.e., reflux, indigestion, GERD, etc.), and failing to seek medical attention for what turns out to be a heart attack. Similarly, people can mistakenly believe they have angina, when it is actually a heart attack.

However, many cases of heart attack go undiagnosed even in the emergency department. This diagnostic error in the ER makes AMI the single largest malpractice litigation-related medical condition. Because the typical profile for AMI in older men (usually over 45), AMI is often underdiagnosed in women or younger adults. In any age patients, AMI can have a variety of presentations, and diagnostic tests such as an EKG may still be normal. Misdiagnoses of AMI include gastrointestinal disorders (26% of misdiagnoses), musculoskeletal pain (21%), or respiratory ailments such as pneumonia or bronchitis (6%).

Other the other hand, there are also less serious disorders that are mistakenly believed to be heart attack. A common example are people having a panic attack (anxiety attack) and will rush to emergency in the belief they are dying from a heart attack. There are many other causes of chest pain, many of them not as serious (e.g. heartburn, GERD, gastric reflux, etc.). Nevertheless, it is important not to take chances, and seek immediate emergency medical attention for chest pain, or any possible heart attack or similar symptoms.

Symptoms of Heart attack

• Chest discomfort - usually in the center of the chest, and may come and go.
  • Uncomfortable chest pressure
  • Chest squeezing
  • Chest fullness
  • Chest pain
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 43 symptoms of Heart attack

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Heart attack:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Hypertension Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Blood Pressure Testing
  • Home Cholesterol Testing
• Home Andropause Tests
• Prostate Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Prostate Tests
  • Home PSA Antigen Tests
  • Home Testosterone Tests
• more tests...»

Heart attack: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Heart attack:

• Cardiac arrest
• Ventricular fibrillation
• Heart failure
• Death
• Fears about having sex (see Sexual symptoms)
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Heart attack

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Heart attack

• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Blood tests
• Cardiac enzymes
• Nuclear scan
• Chest radiographs
• more tests...»

See full list of 6 diagnostic tests for Heart attack

Wrongly Diagnosed with Heart attack?

• Misdiagnosis of Heart attack
• Failure to diagnose Heart attack
• Hidden causes of Heart attack (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Heart attack

Heart attack: Self Assessment Tools

• Stroke -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Attack -- Self Assessment Tools
• Stress -- Self Assessment Tools
• Smoking -- Self Assessment Tools
• Weight Management -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Disease -- Self Assessment Tools
• more tools...»

Heart attack: Medical Mistakes

• Hypertension -- Health Mistakes
• Cholesterol -- Health Mistakes
• Obesity -- Health Mistakes
• Diabetes -- Health Mistakes
• Metabolic Syndrome -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

Heart attack: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Heart attack:

• Dieting & Weight management: products & offers »
• Heart health products & offers »
• Senior Health
• Men's Health
• High cholesterol
• more product offers...»

Heart attack: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases that are commonly Undiagnosed:
  • High Cholesterol -- Undiagnosed
  • Heart Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Cancer -- Undiagnosed
  • Depression -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Hypertension -- Undiagnosed
  • Hemochromatosis -- Undiagnosed
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and Heart attack

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something...read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal. It should be considered...read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become...read more »

Alzheimer's disease over-diagnosed: The well-known disease of Alzheimer's disease is often over-diagnosed. Patients tend to assume that any memory loss or forgetulness symptom might be Alzheimer's,...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical...read more »

Tremor need not be Parkinson's disease: There is the tendency to believe that any tremor symptom, or shakiness, means Parkinson's disease. The reality is that there are various possibilities, such as benign essential...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure. The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood...read more »

Rare diseases misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease: A rare genetic disorder is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease for men in their 50's. The disease Fragile X disorder can show only mild symptoms in the...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children. Some of the symptoms of...read more »

Silent attack in diabetics: Heart disease is the leading cause of death among diabetics. Patients with type 2 diabetes above the age of 60-65 years are susceptible to silent heart attacks.Diabetes being...read more »

Epigastric pain could be dangerous: Pain in the epigastic region could be due to something as simple as reflux disesea or more serious entities such as rupture of an aortic aneurysm or cancer of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Heart attack

Heart attack: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Cholesterol Specialists:
  • Clinical Lipidology (Cholesterol/Triglycerides)
  • Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism
• Cardiac (Heart) Specialists:
  • Cardiology (Heart specialists)
  • Pediatric Cardiology (Child Heart Specialists)
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
  • Interventional Cardiology
• Senior Health Specialists (Geriatrics):
  • Geriatric Medicine (Senior Health Specialist)
  • Geriatric Psychiatry (Senior Mental Health)
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: Heart attack

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Heart attack:

• Heart Health (Cardiac Care) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• Senior Health -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• Nursing Homes & Aged Care Facilities -- Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings » »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to Heart attack, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experinece Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Heart attack: Rare Types

Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases -- Rare Types:
  • High Cholesterol -- Rare Types
  • Heart Disease -- Rare Types
  • Cancer -- Rare Types
  • Depression -- Rare Types
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Hypertension -- Rare Types
  • Hemochromatosis -- Rare Types
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Causes of Heart attack

• Heart disease
• Coronary heart disease
• Atherosclerosis
• Coronary thrombosis (see Heart symptoms)
• Arrhythmias
• more causes...»

See full list of 127 causes of Heart attack

More information about causes of Heart attack:

• Triggers for Heart attack
• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Heart attack (237 listings)
• Drug interactions causing Heart attack (59 listings)
• Underlying causes of Heart attack
• Heart attack as a complication caused by other conditions
• Heart attack as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Heart attack
• Cause statistics for Heart attack

Treatments for Heart attack

• Call emergency immediately - 911 in the USA.
• Go to a hospital immediately - if you cannot call emergency.
• Emergency treatment
  • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
  • Expired air resuscitation (EAR)
• more treatments...»

See full list of 20 treatments for Heart attack

Latest Treatments for Heart attack

• Oxygen
• Aspirin
• Enoxaparin
• Clopidogrel
• Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa
• more treatments...»

See full list of 17 latest treatments for Heart attack

News Archives for Heart attack

Medical news articles related to Heart attack include:

• All Blood Pressure Drugs Lower Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke
• Low Vitamin D Levels May Boost Men's Heart Attack Risk
• Age-Related Macular Degeneration Doubles Heart Attack and Stroke Risk
• Drug Cuts Muscle Damage After Heart Attack
• Another Blood Fat Fuels Heart Attack Risk
• Telling Heartburn From Heart Attack Can Be Tricky
• Laughter May Lower Heart Attack Risk in Diabetics
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Heart attack

Medical research articles related to Heart attack include:

• Acute coronary syndrome (unstable angina and non-ST elevation MI)
• For a young woman with a family history of myocardial infarction (MI), can combined oral contraception be used safely?
• Management of Acute Myocardial Infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation
• Heart failure with preserved and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction in the antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment to prevent heart attack trial
• Cell-free hemoglobin-based blood substitutes and risk of myocardial infarction and death: a meta-analysis
• more research...»

Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database

Videos for Heart attack

Patient Surveys for Heart attack

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Heart attack
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Heart attack

More about prognosis of Heart attack

Reseach about Heart attack

Visit our research pages for current research about Heart attack treatments.

Clinical Trials for Heart attack

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Heart attack include:

• Pre-Hospital Administration of Thrombolytic Therapy With Urgent Culprit Artery Revascularization - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Retavase 10 U IV Bolus (thrombolytic-clot busting drug)
• Which Therapy for Acute Heart Attacks? (The WEST Study) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - tenecteplase,enoxaparin,clopidogrel
• Safety Study of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) to Treat Acute Myocardial Infarction - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Provacel
• Safety and Effectiveness of SeeMore (EVP 1001-1 Injection) for MRI in Heart Patients - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - SeeMore (EVP-1001-1 Injection)
• Safety of TG100-115 for Heart Attack Treated With Angioplasty - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - TG100-115
• more trials...»

See full list of 325 Clinical Trials for Heart attack

Prevention of Heart attack

Prevention information for Heart attack has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Heart attack.

• Know the symptoms of a heart attack - early treatment can prevent a bad one.
• Quit smoking
• Control weight
• Healthy diet
• Control blood pressure
• more preventions...»

Read more about prevention of Heart attack

Statistics for Heart attack

• Medical statistics for Heart attack
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Heart attack
• Death and Mortality statistics for Heart attack
• Society statistics for Heart attack

Heart attack: Broader Related Topics

• Heart conditions
• Heart disease
• more types...»

Types of Heart attack

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Heart attack, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

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• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Definitions of Heart attack:

Presence of a thrombus in a coronary artery, often causing a myocardial infarction. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A sudden severe instance of abnormal heart function - (Source - WordNet 2.1)