Cost of heart attack in West Virginia

What is a heart attack?

Your heart receives blood flow through the coronary arteries. Without blood flow, your heart muscle can be damaged, and cells can die, just as if you cut off blood flow to your leg or a finger. When a coronary artery becomes blocked, this causes what is commonly called a heart attack – also termed a myocardial infarction (MI).

What causes blockage?

Coronary artery blockage can be caused by a couple of different means. The most common is plaque. Plaque is caused by high cholesterol, triglycerides (fatty substances) in the blood, diabetes, and an unhealthy lifestyle or genetic factors.

Symptoms of blockage can be shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness, chest pressure, heartburn, or tightness in your chest, jaw, neck, or arms. These can be warning signs of an impending heart attack. Symptoms are not the same for everyone – some people have crushing chest pain some may have a headache and dizziness. It is important to listen to your body and see your doctor when you feel like something has changed or is wrong.

What are the best treatments for a heart attack?

A heart attack caused by blocked coronary arteries can be treated in a few different ways. The most common way is to “unblock” the artery by opening it up and clearing the blockage. If multiple arteries are blocked, sometimes coronary artery bypass surgery is the better route. If other parts of the heart are damaged, additional procedures are available to repair or replace heart valves or to regulate heart rhythm with a pacemaker. Let’s go over each of these:

Angioplasty: 

This is commonly called a “balloon” procedure. A catheter is threaded up through an artery in the groin or arm, and when it reaches the blockage, the cardiologist uses a balloon to push the plaque outward against the artery wall, creating a clear path for blood flow. After an angioplasty, many people go home the same day or the next day and can resume normal activities in a week or so.

Cardiac Stent: A stent is placed via a catheter threaded through a blood vessel, similar to balloon angioplasty. The stent is an expandable coil made of metal mesh. It is threaded into the blockage, opening it up and holding the vessel open for blood flow. Typically, patients spend the night in the hospital after a stent placement, then go home to resume normal activities in a few days.

Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: This surgery is often called “open-heart surgery.” It is a major surgery that uses veins taken from the chest or legs of the patient and used to “bypass” or go around the blocked coronary arteries – usually three, four, or even five blockages. The major incision is down the middle of the chest along the sternum. This surgery requires several days in the hospital and a recovery period of at least 6 to 8 weeks. 

Valve Replacement Surgery: When a valve malfunctions or becomes weak, this causes blood to not flow correctly through the heart chambers. There are four valves in the heart, but the most commonly replaced are the aortic or mitral valves. There are many different types of procedures to replace or repair valves. 

Most are major surgeries, with a recovery time of 4 to 6 weeks.

Pacemaker: There are many different types of pacemakers these days, but they have one thing in common – they guard against potentially life-threatening heart arrhythmias. When a heart has an altered rhythm, it causes risk for blood clots, pumps very inefficiently, and may stop pumping blood at all. Symptoms can range from dizziness and a feeling of palpitations to passing out and even death. Pacemakers are typically implanted in the chest area and require a recovery time of 2 to 4 weeks.

Can a heart attack fix itself?

When a heart attack damages heart muscle, it typically forms scar tissue. The muscle may recover somewhat, but it will likely never be at the same level it was before. New research shows promise for therapies that can help this, but current healthcare is not there yet.  

Left untreated, a severely damaged heart muscle can lead to heart failure or severe heart rhythm disfunction, which ultimately can result in death.

How can you prevent a heart attack?

Key risk factors for heart disease are high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, and smoking. 

If you have any of these conditions, you should be aware of the higher risk you may face. Managing your high blood pressure and cholesterol with medications and a healthy diet will also help obesity. Smoking causes plaque development and stiffens the arteries. 

There are many smoking cessation products and programs out there for people who are motivated to quit! Your doctor’s office can give you a guide with some great pointers, or the American Heart Association (AHA) has a wealth of resources to get you started. Some insurance programs also pay for smoking cessation products.

Sometimes heart disease runs in families. If you have a history of heart attacks in your maternal or paternal family, it is a good idea to mention that to your doctor. In this case, not all heart disease is preventable; however, a heart-healthy diet will help, and regular checkups can help spot the early warning signs. 

Some conditions are more likely to be inherited, such as:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – thickening of the heart ventricles, causing your heart to pump harder than normal. It can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, or palpitations.

Dilated Cardiomyopathy – the heart muscle becomes stretched, causing enlarged heart chambers. 

It can cause palpitations, fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling of the legs.

High Cholesterol – That’s right – it’s not all based on diet alone. Some people are just more prone to a high cholesterol level. If this is inherited, it typically begins at a young age, and you have a high LDL (the “bad” cholesterol – HDL is the “good” one).

Is a heart attack the same as cardiac arrest?

While cardiac arrest is not exactly synonymous with heart attack, it can be the same. When a person suffers a cardiac arrest, this means that their heart “arrests” or stops. 

This is the type of situation where the patient is unresponsive, and CPR is performed. Causes of a cardiac arrest can be a heart attack, but it can be other things as well – such as choking, trauma, breathing problems, or a blood clot.

Cardiac arrest is a serious lethal situation. A quick response from bystanders trained in CPR can be lifesaving.