Treatment

Medical treatment of heart attack is aimed at opening the blocked artery and restoring the blood flow to the affected area of the heart (reperfusion). Long-term treatment is used to prevent additional damage to the heart muscle and to reduce the risk of further heart attacks.

Immediate treatment
In the first few minutes of a heart attack, the heart may beat irregularly and very quickly. This makes the heart very inefficient, with very little blood being pumped around the body, and it is essential that it is treated quickly. An automatic external defibrillator, which is carried by the emergency services, will shock the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Long-term treatment
Many patients will be prescribed three or four medicines following a heart attack. Each medicine has a separate ‘job’ to do; one may slow the heart rate, another widen the blood vessels so the blood can flow more easily, a third may help prevent blood clots forming while a fourth may lower the cholesterol levels in the blood.