Best Heart Attack Doctor in Hawaii

A heart attack with a completely blocked coronary artery is called a “ST elevation myocardial infarction” (STEMI) or acute heart attack. In that case an atherosclerotic (cholesterol laden) plaque raptures in the arteries feeding the heart muscle (the coronaries). Shortly a fresh blood clot is formed at the ruptured plaque and shuts down all flow to the artery and the heart muscle down stream.

An acute “ST elevation myocardial infarction” (STEMI) or acute heart attack can be treated with either medication, for example clot busting drugs called thrombolytics like Tenecteplase, as well as with a technique named “percutaneous coronary intervention” (PCI). In that case a hair thin metal wire is threaded across the clot. With the result to serve as a rail to advance balloons and stents to mechanically disrupt the clot thus restoring flow to the heart muscle down stream. 

A heart attack resulting from a coronary artery that is not completely blocked but 70-95% narrowed (or stenosis) is called a “Non ST elevation myocardial infarction” (NSTEMI) or acute heart attack without a 100% blocked coronary artery.

After all this can be treated either with medications, PCI or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.