How is a heart attack diagnosed?
Heart attacks are most often diagnosed by healthcare providers in an emergency room. Tests that are done to tell if you have had or are having a heart attack include:
- Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG): checks the heart's rhythm and can locate the part of the heart where a heart attack might be occurring (or has occurred)
- Blood tests: check for substances in the blood called biomarkers; increased levels of these biomarkers, such as troponin, are a sign that the heart cells are injured
- Cardiac catheterization: an X-ray of the heart that locates the blocked artery
How is a heart attack treated?
Once you have been diagnosed with a heart attack, you will receive treatment to open the blocked artery. The catch-all term for these treatments is reperfusion therapy, which includes:
- Clot buster drugs to dissolve the blood clot blocking the artery
- Angioplasty and stent placement to widen narrowed arteries with a very small balloon, then prop them open with a tiny wire-mesh tube
- Bypass surgery to improve blood supply to parts of the heart muscle that suffer from decreased blood flow
