What is a heart attack and what causes a heart attack?

Answer 1

The heart is a muscle, and like all muscles, it needs oxygen to survive. When the blood flow that brings this oxygen to the heart is severely reduced or cut off completely, this causes a heart attack. The blood circulation to the heart is slowed or stopped because of fat, cholesterol, and other substances in the arteries. Together, these substances are called plaque. The process of plaque forming and hardening the arteries is called atherosclerosis. When a piece of plaque breaks off in the arteries, blood clots may form. The narrowed arteries and the blood clots prevent blood from flowing through the heart. The heart is then starved of oxygen and nutrients, and this is called ischemia. This in turn causes damage or death to parts of the heart. The American Heart Association says that every 34 seconds, someone in the US has a heart attack.

To prevent a heart attack, you would need to lower your heart attack risk from narrow arteries, being overweight or having high blood pressure.

Answer 2

The back of the heart would refer to a 'posterior infarct'. posterior simply means the back side of something in anatomy, and infact means cell death.

the posterior part of the heart is still the left ventricle. if you look at anatomy pictures, the left ventricle makes up the majority of the heart and wraps around back of it. posterior infarcts are diagnosed by a 15 lead ECG. the last two electrodes from a normal ECG (lead 5 & 6) get placed on the back to 'look' at the muscle on the back side of the heart.

posterior infarcts generally decrease the ability of the heart to pump blood around the body. this is in contrast to a right ventricular infarct that affects the ability of the heart to pump blood to the lungs. If a person survives the heart attack, the heart muscle will grow (atrophy) to keep up with the demand of the body.

hope that helps,

jason RN, EMT-A