Myocardial infarction (MI) or acute myocardial infarction (AMI), commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die.
Either one of the following criteria satisfies the diagnosis for an acute, evolving, or recent myocardial infarction:
1. Typical rise and gradual fall (troponin) or more rapid rise and fall (CK-MB) of biochemical markers of myocardial necrosis with at least one of the following:
a. Ischemic symptoms
b. Development of pathologic Q waves on the electrocardiogram
c. Electrocardiographic changes indicative of
ischemia (ST segment elevation or depression)
d. Coronary artery intervention (e.g., coronary angioplasty).
2. Pathological findings of an acute myocardial infarction
Most patients who sustain an MI have coronary atherosclerosis.
The thrombus formation occurs most often at the site of an atherosclerotic lesion, thus obstructing blood flow to the myocardial tissues.
Plaque rupture is believed to be the triggering mechanism for the development of the thrombus in most patients with an MI.
When the plaques rupture, a thrombus is formed at the site that can occlude blood flow, thus resulting in an MI.
Irreversible damage to the myocardium can begin as early as 20 to 40 minutes after interruption of blood flow.
The dynamic process of infarction may not be completed, however, for several hours.
Necrosis of tissue appears to occur in a sequential fashion.
Reimer and associates demonstrated that cellular death occurs first in the subendocardial layer and spreads like a “wavefront” throughout the thickness of the wall of the heart.
Using dogs, they showed that the shorter the time between coronary occlusion and coronary reperfusion, the greater the amount of myocardial tissue that could be salvaged.
a substantial amount of myocardial tissue can be salvaged if flow is restored within 6 hours after the onset of coronary occlusion.
The cellular changes associated with an MI can be followed by:
1. the development of infarct extension (new myocardial necrosis),
2. infarct expansion (a disproportionate thinning and dilation of the infarct zone), or
3. Ventricular remodeling (a disproportionate thinning and dilation of the ventricle).
Several factors determine the size of the resulting MI.
These factors include the extent, severity, and duration of the ischemic episode; the size of the vessel; the amount of collateral circulation; the status of the intrinsic fibrinolytic system; vascular tone; and the metabolic demands of the myocardium at the time of the event.
MIs most often result in damage to the left ventricle, leading to an alteration in left ventricular function.
Infarctions can also occur in the right ventricle or in both ventricles.
The term transmural infarction is used to imply an infarction process that has resulted in necrosis of the tissue in all the layers of the myocardium.
Because the heart functions as a squeezing pump, systolic and diastoli