brain damage from lack of oxygen after a massive heart attack

[Rosa1962]

Brain Damage from lack of oxygen after a massive heart attack

[ed34]

Hence that horrible nickname applied to it, the widow maker.

[BrokenPen]

It still depends on which coronary artery is affected. An obstruction in the left main coronary artery is very serious and would even lead to death if not dealt with immediately, unlike the right coronary artery.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

I have an ear problem where I hear my voice, every breath, joint movements, even eye ball movements LOUDLY in my left ear.  It is murder to eat anything crunchy..  Right along with this I hear my pulse and while having the attack because of the way the heart was/wasn't working I could tell there was a big problem, and the way it sounded and felt was as if it was struggling to to do anything.  What is relevant to this post is that the "Pulse" is coming right from the brain from a hole between my inner ear and the brain which gives me a unique perspective.  Blood flow can easily stop or slow long enough to deprive anything from oxygen.

  As a side note, having had this problem for a few years I have become so accustomed to it that when starting lisinopril, I got so terrified when the usual beating of the heart started to quiet down and slow down and then disappear all together...  I had to keep my fingers on my wrist just so that I could re-assure my self my heart was still pumping.

[ed34]

Thank you, so by a massive heart attack, I assume you mean a large proportion of the heart tissue is deprived of oxygen, enough to cause pumping failure or less efficiency?
So a heart attack that is not as severe, i.e. the blockage is further down a coronary artery affecting less tissue, then the heart has every chance of continuing to pump sufficiently until intervention?

[BrokenPen]

Massive heart attack means that the main coronary arteries of the heart have been totally or nearly totally occluded. The heart muscle can not work properly any longer because it is deprived from oxygen and blood supply. Since the blood can not be pumped properly, it can not reach every distant part of the body, resulting in a lack of blood and oxygen supplies.

The brain is a sensitive organ. The lack of blood supply will result in:
1- Lack of Oxygen.
2- Lack of glucose (the only source of nutrition of the brain).
3- Accumulation of Carbon dioxide.
4- If deprived from the Oxygen for a long time, the resulting acidosis of blood will contribute to the brain damage.
Thus, the extent of the damage depends mainly on the time taken to treat the massive heart damage.

[ed34]

Well, I still don't fully understand how this happens. When someone has a heart attack, but not cardiac failure, I thought that the heart was still pumping. I was in the worse pain imaginable when I had my heart attacks, but my heart still pumped. I always thought that the heart had to go out of rhythm or stop beating to starve the brain of oxygen.
When a person is having a heart attack, I know the heart is being starved of oxygen, but the brain?
Perhaps someone can please explain why brain damage would occur so I can understand what happens.
Many thanks

[ireneo]

Not sure of the question but yes, it can happen. And some people recover, some recover partly and some don't recover. Perhaps the doctor can explain his/her chances better since they know how long the person was with low oxygen levels.