Almost 14 million Americans have a history of heart attack or angina. It is now one of the leading causes of death in the United States. More than 1 million Americans have heart attacks each year. A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is permanent damage to the heart muscle. “Myo” means muscle, “cardial” refers to the heart and “infarction” means death of tissue due to lack of blood supply.

Nutrition and energy are delivered to the entire body by blood from the pumping heart. The heart itself requires constant energy in the form of oxygen and nutrients, which all come from the blood that delivered through the coronary arteries.  A blockage in the coronary arteries prevents blood flow and causes the heart muscle to starve. The medical term for such starvation is ischemia, a condition that  is accompanied by a chest discomfort called angina.  If the blockage is severe, some of the heart muscle actually dies. When heart muscle dies, this is called a heart attack or myocardial infarction.
Fortunately, modern medicine already offers medical treatment acute heart attack.  Preventive measures have been identified  and are now being taught to prevent such an attack from occurring or recurring. Beta blockers are medications used to decrease heart rate and blood pressure. These can be given through an intravenous (IV) line or by mouth. Oxygen is used via nose plugs or a facemask if a person is having a heart attack. This is useful if breathing is difficult or the amount of oxygen in the blood is low.

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