What Is a Heart Attack? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Once you arrive at a hospital after experiencing heart attack symptoms, doctors will confirm a heart attack through a combination of heart monitoring, blood tests, and imaging tests.

You may be started right away on an intravenous (IV) clot-busting drug, which will help dissolve the blood clot that caused your heart attack.

More commonly, you will undergo a procedure to open up your blocked artery and keep it open, known as coronary angioplasty and stenting.

Medication Options

When you call 911 and report your symptoms, you may be instructed to take aspirin. Emergency medical personnel may also give you aspirin immediately.

Thrombolytics Known as clot-busting drugs, these medications help dissolve blood clots that are blocking blood flow to your heart.

Antiplatelet Drugs Also known as platelet aggregation inhibitors, these drugs prevent new clots and stop existing ones from growing.

Other Blood Thinners You may receive drugs such as heparin to reduce the formation of blood clots.

Nitroglycerin This drug helps your blood vessels widen (dilate) and can help improve blood flow to your heart, in addition to reducing chest pain (angina).

Beta Blockers These drugs help relax your heart muscle and lower blood pressure, potentially limiting heart muscle damage.

ACE Inhibitors These drugs also help lower blood pressure, meaning your heart has to work less hard.

Pain Relievers If you’re in pain, you may be given morphine or another drug.

Invasive and Surgical Procedures

In addition to treatment with drugs, you may need to undergo a procedure to restore blood flow to your heart:

Coronary Angioplasty and Stenting This common procedure involves inserting a long, narrow tube (catheter) into your coronary artery, inflating a tiny balloon in the area of a blockage, and leaving a mesh tube (called a stent) to keep it open.

Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery For more severe artery blockages, such as those typically seen in a massive heart attack, you may need to undergo surgery in which blood vessels are sewn around a blocked artery. Ideally, this is done a few days after your heart attack, but it may also need to be done more urgently.

Cardiac Rehabilitation