Why are some heart attacks called “massive?” What constitutes a massive heart attack as opposed to a normal one?
In: Biology
If you define heart attack, an ischemic attack, as damaging heart muscle due to lack of blood flow, then some are far more serious than others. The ‘massive’ heart attack is usually referring too the total occlusion of the descending left anterior artery of the heart that completely blocks the flow of blood to the side of the heart responsible for pumping blood around the body. Someone suffering this condition needs to be treated right away.
Some heart attacks will hapoen where a less critical blood vessel is partially occluded and heart muscle starts dying but not extremely rapidly. You still need to plumb that out or give a thrombolytic but you will likely survive to tell the tale.
Ischemic means you are blocking blood flow, and oxygen, from getting to someplace important. You can have ischemic episodes, like in the brain (a stroke) or basically anywhere in the body. For example, ischemic bowel.
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