Beginning Heart Attack Treatment Quickly Can Reduce Damage

When a person is showing symptoms of having a heart attack, treatment that is rendered within the first hour can often minimize the damage to the heart muscle. A heart occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked and emergency medical personnel can use medication to quickly dissolve a blood clot, opening the artery and allowing blood to flow into the heart. However, if heart attack treatment is delayed, permanent damage can be done to heart muscle, creating additional risks for the patient.

Many of the clot busting drugs, as they are called, can quickly clear a clot from an artery allowing life-giving blood and oxygen to flow freely. Once the initial heart attack treatment has been performed to allow the patient to be stabilized, additional treatment may be needed to prevent the reoccurrence of not only a heart attack, but also damage to the artery.

If the victim is suffering from an irregular heart beat, electrical shock with a defibrillator to return the heart to a more natural rhythm. Emergency person can use an electrocardiogram to quickly asses the need for defibrillation and administer the shock as part of their emergency heart attack treatment procedures.

Quick Help At Home Can Be Beneficial

The use of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) prior to the arrival of emergency technicians can also provide initial heart attack treatment until expert help arrives. This procedure has been widely taught to help people provide a first response to a medical condition that is the number one cause of death in men and women.

Occasionally, persons with a known cardio vascular disease have a ready supply of nitroglycerine, a small tablet that dissolves under the tongue and enters the blood stream quickly. It is used to dilate the arteries and help improve the flow of blood. Using nitroglycerine in heart attack treatment mat not be tolerated by all patients as it not only dilates the coronary arteries but also open all blood vessels causing severe headaches. In these patients, alternative therapies may be needed.

Once the patient has been stabilized, blooding thinning drugs to prevent further clotting are usually given and in many cases will be needed on a continuing basis. Drugs used to keep blood platelets from sticking together are often used and in some cases, when arteries are severely slowed, angioplasty is used. During this heart attack treatment a small expandable balloon is inserted into the artery and expanded to break up the formation of plaque that is blocking the blood flow.