ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, STEMI is considered as one of the major forms of heart attack. “No doubt, it is a massive heart attack as the blockage in major parts of the artery is 100 percent”, explains the doctors of Poona Preventive Cardiology Centre, a renowned medical institution for chelation therapy Pune. Let’s take a brief glance on the causes, symptoms, diagnostic procedures, consequences, and remedial treatment options for STEMI.
Causes
It all begins with the rupture of a plaque, an unstable part in the coronary artery, which causes blood clots to be formed suddenly. This in turn leads to severe disturbance in blood supply and the heart muscle begins to suffer due to lack of oxygen. When the blockage is severe, myocardial infarction (heart attack) due to the death of heart muscle occurs. It is worth mentioning here that the plaque formation is a very slow procedure. Periodic checking and removal of plaques through chelation therapy is one of the best procedures for heart treatment without angioplasty, bypass surgery complications.
Symptoms
The symptoms of STEMI are
- Chest pain
- Heaviness in chest- feeling of heavy object being placed on your chest.
- Spreading of pain till arms, jaws and shoulders, basically above waist area
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Nausea
- dizziness
Quick action on notice of these symptoms is highly recommended as every minute counts for the saving the life of a patient who is undergoing STEMI.
Diagnostic procedures
Once the patient starts receiving medical care, the diagnosis of a STEMI can be possibly made immediately. Within few steps, doctors usually find whether it is heart attack in the first place and does it come under STEMI category.
- Firstly, the patients are generally questioned about the discomfort they are experiencing and the same are correlated with the classic symptoms of heart attack.
- Secondly, ECG tracing is carried out to find the presence of ST segment elevation. With these two steps, doctors usually start the corrective procedures for STEMI as time is essence in case of myocardial infarction treatment.
- Ofcourse, blood samples are taken to find the elevation of cardiac enzymes (a usual phenomenon of STEMI) and assess the damage in heart muscle.
Consequences
STEMI heart attacks always demand very fast and efficient treatment owing to its nature of life- threatening consequences. An acute heart attack coupled with pain and distress may result in substantial damage of heart muscle leading to chronic heart failure or even sudden death. The main problem lies in the heart muscle; as it cannot grow again or regenerate, it is next to impossible to revive it back to normalcy from the damaged state. Hence, priority care is the need of the hour for patients under STEMI.
Treatment options
The treatment options mainly focus on saving heart muscle. Opening up the artery to remove the block is the top most priority in the minds of surgeons. And not to forget the time limit as the clog needs to be removed within three hours to have any chance of avoiding permanent damage to the heart muscle. Various options that include are
- clot busting medication
- PCI ( Percutaneous coronary intervention) – angioplasty and stenting
- Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (Ofcourse this is considered only if medication doesn’t work or non-invasive surgery like angioplasty is not possible)
Even after completing the emergency treatment of artery de-clogging, lot of medical treatments have to be carried out to stabilize the heart and to avoid the chances of another heart attack.
Alike to any other heart ailments, STEMI type heart attacks can be kept at bay through good life style habits, dietary control, and periodic health checking. It is always a good practice to assess your body for all the risk factors associated with cardiac disease. With present day stress conditions, extra efforts to have a serious control over body weight, hypertension, and cholesterol are very much necessary to avoid angioplasty, bypass surgery and other life threatening complications.