Heart Attack ” How is it Different From Angina?
Many people think that angina and heart attacks are the same thing, but they are not. It is true that the heart is involved in both cases, but they are still two distinct forms of heart disease. In this article, you will find out what makes angina and heart attack different, and what exactly is going on in the arteries of the heart.
First, it helps to have a basic understanding of the heart before you understand what the differences are between heart attack and angina. The heart is a hollow muscular pump. It is separated by a wall, called the septum, into the right and left halves of the heart. The right side of the heart contains blood that is low in oxygen, and the left side contains oxygenated blood.
The right half of the heart is made up of the right atrium (the top half) and the right ventricle (the bottom half). The left side of the heart is also split into the left atrium and the left ventricle. The biggest difference between both halves of the heart is that non-oxygenated blood passes through the right side of the heart, and oxygenated blood passes through the left side of the heart. When oxygen-rich blood leaves the left ventricle, it is sent to all parts of the body to deliver this vital oxygen. The blood travels through arteries tot get to your body’s various parts.
So how does your heart get oxygen too? It gets the vital oxygen from its own set of arteries called coronary arteries. They are located on the surface of the heart.
Most often, angina and heart attack occur due to atherosclerosis, or “hardening of the arteries.” However, there are a few other reasons for heart attacks.
Angina occurs when blood that is passing through the coronary arteries is reduced for a short period of time. This means that the appropriate amount of oxygen is not able to get to the heart during this time, but it is only temporary. Angina is not the same as heart attack. Sometimes people who have angina have had a previous heart attack, but often they have not had one at all. Angina means that your heart is not working as it should, and it is giving you a sign of this. You will notice angina come on during times of psychological or physical stress or when working in extreme temperatures.
Heart attack, on the other hand, is when blood becomes completely blocked off in one or more of the coronary arteries, and there is damage/muscle death that occurs to the heart. Heart attack is known by the medical term, (acute) myocardial infarction, or MI or AMI for short.
In conclusion, angina and heart attack is not the same thing. They both involve the arteries of the heart that supply it with oxygen, but they are still two different types of heart disease.