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A heart attack occurs when one of the coronary arteries of the heart is blocked, usually by a small clot (thrombus). Usually, the blood clot is formed within the coronary artery that has been narrowed by atherosclerosis. This is a condition in which fatty deposits (plaques) accumulate in the inner walls of blood vessels. A heart attack is also called myocardial infarction or coronary thrombosis.

Each coronary artery supplies blood to him a specific part of the heart muscle wall, so a blocked artery causes pain and dysfunction (abnormal operation) in the area irrigated (watered). Depending on the location and amount of heart muscle involved, this malfunction can seriously interfere with the heart’s ability to irrigate blood.

Moreover, some of the coronary arteries supplying areas of the heart that regulate heartbeat, for that reason sometimes causes a blockage and abnormal heartbeats that could be fatal, called cardiac arrhythmias. The pattern of symptoms that develop with each heart attack and the chances of survival are related to the location and extent of coronary artery blockage.

In 25% of adults (one quarter), the first sign of this disease is sudden death from a heart attack. In the U.S., approximately 865,000 people suffer heart attacks each year, of which 179,000 die. In most cases, heart attack is due to atherosclerosis, so the risk factors for both conditions are basically the same:
- abnormally high blood cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia)
- abnormally low level of HDL (high density lipoprotein), commonly called “good cholesterol”
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- diabetes
- family history of coronary artery disease at an early age
- cigarette smoking (cigarettes)
- obesity
- physical inactivity (do not exercise regularly)

When he enters the stage of maturity, the risk of a heart attack is higher than that of women. However, the risk of women increases when menopause begins. This may be the result of decreased estrogen levels, following menopause, a female sex hormone which offers some protection against atherosclerosis.

Although the majority of heart attacks result from atherosclerosis, there are few cases where due to other diseases. This includes congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries, hypercoagulability (abnormal increase in the tendency to form blood clots), a collagen vascular diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), abuse of cocaine, coronary artery spasm or embolism (moving blood clot that travels from elsewhere) and goes through the blood to a coronary artery and lodges in it.

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