Heart Disease
Information, Symptoms, Treatments and Resources
What Is a Heart Attack?
What Happens During a Heart Attack?
What Happens During a Heart Attack?
When the hard, outside surface of plaque cracks or tears, blood platelets rush to the site and try to repair the damage by sticking to the tear, forming a blood clot, just as they would if you cut your finger.
However, blood clots on the inside of your vessels can pose a big danger. If the blood clot is large enough, it can completely block blood flow through the artery, starving your heart of the nourishment it needs.
After about 20 minutes of not getting blood and oxygen, the affected heart tissue starts to die. This is a heart attack. Heart attacks can harm different parts of the heart muscle, depending on which artery is blocked, but the damage it causes to the heart is always permanent.
By Jenilee Matz, MPH. Jenilee Matz, MPH, is a medical writer, health educator, and triathlete based in Charlotte, NC. Published May 29, 2012.
