myocardial infarction

myocardial infarction
myocardial infarction n heart attack

* * *

death of a segment of heart muscle, which follows interruption of its blood supply (see coronary thrombosis). Myocardial infarction is usually confined to the left ventricle. The patient experiences a 'heart attack': sudden severe chest pain, which may spread to the arms and throat. The main danger is that of ventricular fibrillation, which accounts for most of the fatalities. Other arrhythmia are also frequent; ectopic beat in the ventricle are especially important as they predispose to ventricular fibrillation. Other complications include heart failure, rupture of the heart, phlebothrombosis, pulmonary embolism, pericarditis, shock, mitral incompetence, and perforation of the septum between the ventricles.
The best results from the management of patients with myocardial infarction follow mobile and hospital-based coronary care with facilities for the early detection, prevention, and treatment of arrhythmias and cardiac arrest. Most survivors of myocardial infarction are able to return to a full and active life, including those who have been successfully resuscitated from cardiac arrest.

* * *

(MI) gross necrosis of the myocardium as a result of interruption of the blood supply to the area; it is almost always caused by atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries, upon which coronary thrombosis is usually superimposed.

Myocardial infarction shown in cross-section of heart (ventricles only).


Medical dictionary. 2011.

Look at other dictionaries:

  • myocardial infarction — n. HEART ATTACK …   English World dictionary

  • Myocardial infarction — Heart attack redirects here. For other uses, see Heart attack (disambiguation). Myocardial infarction Classification and external resources Diagram of a myocardial infarction (2) of the tip of the anterior wall of the heart (an apical infarct)… …   Wikipedia

  • myocardial infarction — death of a segment of heart muscle, which follows interruption of its blood supply (see coronary thrombosis). Myocardial infarction is usually confined to the left ventricle. The patient experiences a ‘heart attack’: sudden severe chest pain,… …   The new mediacal dictionary

  • Myocardial infarction management — Main article: Myocardial infarction Myocardial infarction management involves salvaging as much myocardium as possible and to prevent further complications, thus the phrase time is muscle .[1] Oxygen, aspirin, and nitroglycerin are usually… …   Wikipedia

  • Myocardial infarction diagnosis — Main article: Myocardial infarction A diagnosis of myocardial infarction is made by integrating the history of the presenting illness and physical examination with electrocardiogram findings and cardiac markers (blood tests for heart muscle cell… …   Wikipedia

  • Myocardial infarction complications — Main article: Myocardial infarction Myocardial infarction complications may occur immediately following a heart attack (in the acute phase), or may need time to develop (a chronic problem). After an infarction, an obvious complication is a second …   Wikipedia

  • Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project — The Myocardial Ischaemia Audit Project (MINAP) (previously known as the myocardial infarction National Audit Database) began in late 1998 when a broadly based steering group developed a dataset for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This allowed… …   Wikipedia

  • Myocardial infarction, acute — An acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a heart attack. The term myocardial infarction focuses on the heart muscle (the myocardium) and the changes that occur in it due to sudden (acute) deprivation of circulating blood. The main change is death… …   Medical dictionary

  • myocardial infarction — noun destruction of heart tissue resulting from obstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle (Freq. 1) • Syn: ↑myocardial infarct, ↑MI • Hypernyms: ↑infarct, ↑infarction • Part Holonyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • myocardial infarction — Pathol. See heart attack. Also, myocardial infarct. Abbr.: MI * * * ▪ pathology       death of a section of the heart muscle, caused by an interruption of blood flow to the area. See heart attack. * * * …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”