Sunday, February, 12, 2012

Heart attack

Table of Contents

Thrombolytic therapy is not appropriate for people who have:

  • Bleeding inside their head (intracranial hemorrhage)
  • Brain abnormalities such as tumors or blood vessel malformations
  • Stroke within the past 3 months (or possibly longer)
  • Head injury within the past 3 months

Thrombolytic therapy is extremely dangerous in women who are pregnant or in people who have:

  • A history of using blood thinners such as coumadin
  • Had major surgery or a major injury within the past 3 weeks
  • Had internal bleeding within the past 2-4 weeks
  • Peptic ulcer disease
  • Severe high blood pressure

OTHER MEDICINES FOR HEART ATTACKS

Many different medicines are used to treat and prevent heart attacks. Nitroglycerin helps reduce chest pain. You may also receive strong medicines to relieve pain.

Antiplatelet medicines help prevent clots from forming. Aspirin is an antiplatelet drug. Another one is clopidogrel (Plavix). Ask your doctor which of these drugs you should be taking. Always talk to your health care provider before stopping either of these drugs.

  • For the first year after a heart attack, you will likely take both aspirin and clopidogrel every day. After that, your health care provider may only prescribe aspirin.
  • If you had angioplasty and a coronary stent placed after your heart attack, you may need to take clopidogrel with your aspirin for longer than one year.

Other medications you may receive during or after a heart attack include:

  • Beta-blockers (such as metoprolol, atenolol, and propranolol) help reduce the strain on the heart and lower blood pressure.
  • ACE inhibitors (such as ramipril, lisinopril, enalapril, or captopril) are used to prevent heart failure and lower blood pressure.
  • Lipid-lowering medications, especially statins (such as lovastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, and rosuvastatin) reduce blood cholesterol levels to prevent plaque from increasing. They may reduce the risk of another heart attack or death.

Always talk to your health care provider before stopping any medications, especially these drugs. Stopping or changing the amount of these medicines can be life threatening.

CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS SURGERY

Coronary angiography may reveal severe coronary artery disease in many vessels, or a narrowing of the left main coronary artery (the vessel supplying most of the blood to the heart). In these circumstances, the cardiologist may recommend emergency coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). This procedure is also called "open heart surgery." The surgeon takes either a vein or artery from another location in your body and uses it to bypass the blocked coronary artery.


Support Groups

See:Heart disease -- resources

Review Date: 06/21/2010
Reviewed By: David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)