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Myocardial Infarction: Heart Attacks

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Myocardial Infarction: Heart Attacks
Riya Ragbarsingh

General Biology

Dr. Samira Ziaei-Halaby

May 8, 2012

Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial Infarction also known as “heart attack”, is when a damaged muscle or artery is blocked preventing the blood to flow through. Because of fast food places such as McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s and etc… Most Americans prefer eating outside than having a healthy home cooked meal. Many people do not realize the amount of fatty and oily substances that are in the meals that are being cooked. Heart attack is a leading killer in most men and women in the United States .

The heart is made up of four chambers, two atriums and two ventricles. The right side of the heart pumps blood into the lungs and left side pumps blood into the organs and tissues of the body. The right ventricles carry deoxygenated blood to the lungs and the oxygenated blood is carried by the pulmonary veins to the whole body. Blood flows through the coronary arteries also but if one of the arteries gets clogged, blood will not be able to pass through smoothly causing it to build up and damaging the heart muscle. This leads to a very serious heart condition known as Myocardial Infarction or in other words “heart attack”.
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According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, “Heart attacks occur most often as a result of a condition called coronary artery disease” (CAD). During a heart attack, if the coronary artery isn’t treated right away, the heart muscle begins to die and then gets replaced by scar tissue. Due to this, the heart damage may not be obvious and will cause severe or long-lasting

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