Warning signs of a heart attack that everyone needs to know.

The heart is the organ responsible for pumping blood to nourish the body, and it is nourished by two main branches of blood vessels: the right coronary artery and the left coronary artery.

Myocardial infarction occurs when there is a sudden complete or partial blockage in either or both branches of the coronary artery. If a region of the heart muscle dies due to lack of blood supply, the heart's pumping function is no longer intact, leading to consequences such as heart failure, cardiogenic shock, and sudden cardiac death.

Globally, approximately 300,000-400,000 people die from this disease each year. Myocardial infarction (heart attack) was previously known to be a common disease among the elderly, but now the age of onset is gradually becoming younger. At Hanoi Heart Hospital, doctors have received many emergency cases of myocardial infarction in patients under 40 years old.

If diagnosed early and treated promptly, myocardial ischemia will be minimized, limiting life-threatening acute complications as well as long-term complications.

Symptoms of a heart attack

- Feeling nervous, my heart is pounding.

- Angina: The intensity can range from mild, like a feeling of pressure or burning in the left chest, to severe, like a stabbing or squeezing pain. The pain may radiate to the neck, jaw, left shoulder, back, abdomen, or left arm. The pain lasts for more than 20 minutes.

- Shortness of breath.

- Sweating profusely.

- Dizziness and lightheadedness.

- Nausea, vomiting.

- Low blood pressure or high blood pressure.

- Hands and feet are cold and clammy.

- Excitement, anxiety, panic.

- Fainted.

- Sudden death.

- Some patients do not experience the symptoms described above, but only feel slightly tired or experience only discomfort in the upper abdomen...

The most obvious warning symptom of a heart attack is chest pain. The chest pain is usually located in the middle of the sternum and lasts for a few minutes. The pain may come and go, then return again.

Chest pain can feel like something is pressing on your chest, like a stabbing pain, or like you're suffocating. The pain can also appear in other locations such as the back, neck, jaw, or lower abdomen. Shortness of breath often accompanies chest pain.

Causes of myocardial infarction

According to doctors at Tuyen Quang Provincial General Hospital, the most common cause of myocardial infarction is atherosclerosis. This condition occurs when atherosclerotic plaques gradually accumulate over time and adhere to the walls of blood vessels. These plaques are composed of cholesterol, calcium, and cellular debris.

From around the age of 30, the body begins the process of plaque formation and development. This process takes from a few years to several decades. Several risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, dyslipidemia, and diabetes contribute to accelerating vascular damage over time.

These disorders make blood vessels more susceptible to the deposition and adhesion of cholesterol molecules.

Where atherosclerotic plaque adheres to the blood vessel wall, inflammation occurs. At some point, this plaque detaches and ruptures, promoting the formation of blood clots that block the blood vessel. When the blood vessel is blocked, the heart muscle behind it is deprived of blood supply, leading to necrosis and death of that area of ​​heart muscle, causing a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Unhealthy lifestyles, being overweight or obese, years of smoking, along with work stress and a lack of awareness in controlling risk factors, are the causes of increased myocardial infarction rates.

Therefore, people should have regular health checkups every 3-6 months. If they notice any of the above-mentioned signs of a heart attack, they should go to the hospital for timely examination, consultation, and treatment.