Be in love with yourself. Don’t let your heart skip a beat.

This World Heart Day make sure you have a good heart-to-heart talk with the most vital organ of your body. Which means you listen to what your heart has to say, to keep it pumping for a healthy, long life.

It’s not just 29^th Sept, World Heart Day, that you should take care of your heart. It’s a lifelong practice, a habit to begin cultivating from an early age. Right from eating healthy and regimented exercise, to fitness and diet plans that are not ditched halfway and most importantly regular check-ups; can help you help your heart.

Most hospitals have in place a special programme whereby you are appraised of your heart’s health. In fact health professionals who deal with the sudden onset of a heart attack or Myocardial Infarction (MI) insist on 2 things of prime importance:

Firstly, a heart attack is sudden due to blocked arteries which prevent blood from reaching the heart. It is crucial at this stage for a cardiologist to be there to help the person survive, using medical or mechanical means. This could be CPR which restores perfusion asap, or diagnose the condition and rush the patient for a byass graft surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A good cardiologist can identify whether the patient is having an ST-elevation MI or a non-STEMI, as initial symptoms of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are similar.

Which leads us to another vital factor – that bystanders or family members recognize the symptoms of a heart attack early and get medical help immediately instead of trying to get the patient to relax with an aspirin. Time is crucial and 1 in every 300 patients with chest pain can radically worsen and may suffer a fatal cardiac arrest while still being transported to the hospital. Since every second counts, it is vital to dial the emergency number of a city hospital so that a fully equipped ambulance is at your doorstep. Not just equipment, but as part of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) a cardiologist and an anaesthesist are also present to deliver a high level of critical care treatment. For instance, intravenous access, providing supplemental oxygen, administering nitroglycerin for active chest pain, telemetry and ECG, en route, as the first 60 minutes after a heart attack will make that difference between life and death. Here, the ambulance is like a mobile ICU and hence contacting the hospital authorities for emergency service should be done without a second thought. Delaying would snuff out a life.

This can’t be stressed enough: The door-to-balloon time is what expedites treatment and not just that, it also saves lives. Imagine how this type of integrated approach can improve outcomes, particularly before DVT can set in; much before the patient even reaches the hospital.

IN fact, inside the wonder vehicle, the ambulance with critical care equipment, cardiologists and medical practitioners are busy with:

• Evaluating a targeted history,
• focusing on physical examination within the first ten minutes,
• interpreting the ECG,
• administering nitrates as they are potent vasodilators
• giving analgesics if there’s no allergy
• guarding against bleeding with fibrinolysis therapy
• monitoring continuous oxygen supply and saturation and
• providing intravenous access.

All these steps are taken to relieve pain and to prevent further complications. However, these are largely instrumental in preparing a patient for other emergency procedures on reaching the hospital.

Guidelines are in place which make it mandatory to perform primary PCI in case of those reeling under a cardiogenic shock or display acute severe heart failure symptoms. So remember to keep the emergency number handy. Also, as a general measure you can connect with Logintohealth.com to know more about critical care doctors or experienced cardiologists. You can also browse through several other blogs rich in information about causes, prevention and treatment of Myocardial Infarction (MI).