Baseline Medical

Is All Chest Pain A Heart Attack

No. One very common type of chest pain is called angina, or angina pectoris. It's a recurring discomfort that usually lasts only a few minutes. Angina occurs when your heart muscle doesn't get the blood supply and oxygen that it needs. The difference between angina and a heart attack is that angina attacks don't permanently damage the heart muscle. Often angina occurs during exercise or emotional stress when your heart rate and blood pressure increase and your heart muscle needs more oxygen. Learn about unstable angina.

What are the different medical terms for a heart attack?

Myocardial infarction - The damaging or death of an area of the heart muscle (myocardium) resulting from a blocked blood supply to that area; medical term for a heart attack.

Coronary thrombosis - Formation of a clot in one of the arteries that conduct blood to the heart muscle. Also called coronary occlusion.

Coronary occlusion - An obstruction of a coronary artery that hinders blood flow to some part of the heart muscle. A cause of heart attack.

Are there other causes of heart attack besides blockage?

Sometimes a coronary artery temporarily contracts or goes into spasm. When this happens the artery narrows and blood flow to part of the heart muscle decreases or stops. We're not sure what causes a spasm. A spasm can occur in normal-appearing blood vessels as well as in vessels partly blocked by atherosclerosis. A severe spasm can cause a heart attack.

Baseline Medical performs carotid artery screenings which can show blocked arteries.