Extensive myocardial infarction: the nature of pathology, diagnosis, symptoms and consequences.

Diseases associated with the cardiovascular system are today leading in terms of the number of deaths. At the same time, the incidence of oncological pathologies is significantly lower, which rationally explains the importance of the problem of their timely diagnosis and treatment. But an extensive heart infarction affecting large foci of the heart muscle is increasingly found among people over the age of 40. To the vast are the infarctions of the interventricular septum, the anterior and posterior walls of the left ventricle, which significantly disrupt the work of the heart. In this case, not only the heart muscle itself suffers, but the whole hemodynamics of the organism as a whole.

An extensive heart attack can be caused by the following pathologies:

• Atherosclerosis of arterial vessels,

• Thrombus formation,

• Sympathetic spasm of the vessels of the arterial basin.

Provoking extensive infarction factors are considered to be physical activity, emotional overexcitation or stress. They are realized through a number of pathological changes in the muscle tissue of the heart.

The mechanism of myocardial infarction

The mechanism of the infarction can be explained as follows: since atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries significantly reduces blood flow, some of the tissues experience hypoxia - a lack of oxygen. This condition is already classified as IHD (ischemic heart disease) and is characterized by the presence of an atherosclerotic plaque narrowing the lumen of the vessel and arterial sclerosis. With physical activity, the intensity of blood flow should be increased, which is provided by the compensatory mechanisms of the body.

In this case, the inner shell of the artery, under which the plaque is located, is partially torn, where platelets accumulate intensely. Thus, a thrombus is formed, which further narrows the artery lumen and significantly reduces the blood flow along them. Because of this, parts of the myocardium suffer from a lack of oxygen, which forms the hearth of the infarction. It should be noted that with such a mechanism for the realization of the process, the focus of ischemic necrosis will be quite large, consequently, the patient will subsequently suffer from extensive myocardial infarction.

Symptoms of a heart attack

Patients almost immediately begin to experience acute burning pain behind the sternum, which is not removed by a single dose of nitroglycerin. If repeated taking nitroglycerin did not cause a decrease in intense pain and they last more than 20 minutes, then there should be no doubt of a heart attack, which always causes the need to call an ambulance.

Diagnosis and consequences of a recent extensive heart attack

With this disease, delivery to the inpatient department is mandatory. Here, diagnostic measures will be carried out to clarify the diagnosis and remove pain symptoms. Conducting the ECG will clarify the nature of the lesion and its volume. In this case, a large heart attack is characterized by numerous changes on the ECG. A biochemical blood test is also performed, which will reveal markers of damage to the heart muscle. The most revealing method for diagnosing a heart attack in the first period is the ECG and ultrasound method, which will show the hypodynamic zones that are not involved in the contraction. This will be the focus of the infarction, the volumes of which are visible by instrumental methods of diagnosis. It can affect large areas of the muscle and turn them off from work.

Thus, the consequences of an extensive heart attack can be the most deplorable - the heart tissue will simply die away, at this point a scar will form. In the acute stage of a large heart attack, circulatory deficiency begins to appear along the left circle, and in the lungs, due to the weakness of the left ventricle and the loss of a large muscle segment from the contraction, blood begins to stagnate. This can cause lung swelling and sudden death. But this is the case with a belated treatment in the hospital, because with the timely (no later than 4 hours after the onset of pain symptoms), thrombolytic agents can restore blood flow and reduce the amount of tissue damage. Only with timely admission to the hospital there are great chances to significantly reduce the extent of the lesion, the severity of the symptoms and save the patient's life.