There’s a crushing pain in your chest, you’re short of breath and feeling nauseous…if you think you’re having a heart attack, get treatment immediately. The longer you wait to seek help, the greater your risk of serious heart damage and even death.
According to the National Heart Attack Alert Program, nearly half of all coronary heart disease deaths in America take place before victims ever reach the hospital.
In an effort to provide the best possible care when every minute counts, Carroll Hospital Center has partnered with the University of Maryland Medical Center to offer life-saving treatment onsite for patients experiencing a certain type of heart attack. The procedure is called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), better known as emergency angioplasty.
Physicians perform the procedure by threading a small tube with a tiny balloon at the end through a large blood vessel in the groin. Once the tube reaches the blockage area in the heart, the balloon is inflated, pushing the artery open and restoring blood flow.
A small, expandable mesh tube called a stent is often placed in the newly widened artery to hold the vessel open. To be effective, the procedure must be performed soon after heart attack symptoms appear.
“While not all heart patients will require angioplasty, plenty will,” explains David Zimrin, M.D., medical director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at the University of Maryland Medical Center and one of the interventional cardiologists now performing the procedure at Carroll Hospital Center.
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Do you know the signs of a heart attack?
A heart attack occurs when one of the major arteries supplying blood to the heart becomes blocked, usually due to a buildup of plaque. While symptoms vary from person to person, common warning signs include:
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Chest pain that lasts several minutes or goes away and comes back. You may feel fullness or a squeezing sensation in the center of your chest.
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Pain and discomfort in other areas of the upper body, such as the arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach.
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Shortness of breath.
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Cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, lightheadedness, anxiety, indigestion and unexplained fatigue.
If you experience any of the above symptoms, call 9-1-1 right away, even if your symptoms seem mild. |