What is a Heart Attack?

Heart Attack 
(Source: Google Images)

To learn more about what exactly is a heart attack, one needs to know more about the functioning of heart. As we all know that heart works resembling to that of a pump which force blood to all parts of the body via arteries. Now this pumping keeps on happening more than 100,000 times a day each day. It is evaluated that over in a day our heart pumps out around 4500 gallons of blood.

The heart muscle is called as the Myocardium and two main blood vessels of heart are known as the Left coronary artery and the Right coronary artery. To ensure smooth functioning of blood circulation throughout the body, both the arteries have to work out smoothly. It has to be ensured that there is absence of any blockage or narrowing of any artery within heart. If any of these artery narrows or gets blocked, blood wouldn't get evenly and smoothly circulated. So the muscle of heart beyond this blockage which fails to receive blood circulation will eventually die. This is called heart attack.

Any of the muscle of heart that would die out in this manner is called infarct and that is why heart attack is also known as Myocardial Infarction. The fatty substance that is responsible for this blockage within the artery is known as the plaque or even Atheroma. This fatty substances that block the heart usually comprises of cholesterol, calcium deposits and few other substances.