Treatment of a Heart Attack

The longer you wait to get medical treatment, the greater the likelihood that you will have severe, permanent damage to your heart or even die. The earlier the treatment, the more likely it is that damage to your heart will be kept to a minimum. Remember, treatments are most effective if given within one hour of when the attack begins.

Once it is clear that a person is having a heart attack, immediate treatment usually includes drugs to help open the blocked artery, which restores blood flow to the heart muscle, and prevents clots from forming again.

If you suffer a heart attack and get to an emergency room quickly, a therapy called reperfusion might be done. The sooner you have any part of this therapy, the better your recovery will be. Reperfusion involves:

• Drugs to dissolve blood clots (thrombolysis).

• Balloon angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) to widen narrowed arteries with an inflated balloon.

• Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) to improve blood supply to parts of the heart muscle that suffer from decreased blood flow.

Cardiac rehabilitation programs are offered in most communities to help people recover from a heart attack and reduce the chances of having another attack.