Stuttering Heart Attack

“Stuttering Heart attack” can’t be ignored!!

64 year old Mr. Om Prakash got a new lease of life after an Angioplasty. At seven in the morning, Om Prakash visited hospital with a chest pain. But when the ECG was done it was normal, hence he was discharged after giving some medication. Five hours later again he got similar symptoms and he was again brought to the hospital, repeat ECG was done but did not show any change, it was normal like before.

Due to this back to back activity, doctor suggested the patient to undergo Angiography. There were two blockages one with 99% and another with 90 % of blockage in the heart. Therefore angioplasty was performed immediately.

Such event is called as “Stuttering Heart Attack”, it occurs when an artery that supplies blood to the heart becomes very unstable. On one hand, the artery is fully clogged with plaque and blood cannot get through to deliver much-needed oxygen to the heart. But, on the other hand, the plaque periodically gives way, opening the channel a bit to allow some blood to pass through to the heart.

Mr. Om Prakash said, “I had chest pain only for about 10-15 minutes, so by the time I reached hospital the pain had vanished. So I did no feel anything major happening to me. But thank-fully Dr. Pandiyan suggested immediate angiography from which we came to know about the blockages”.

Dr, Vinayaga Pandiyan, Senior Cardiologist from SRV Mamata Hospital said, “As the heart is receiving the oxygenated blood in an “off and on” fashion, so too does the patient experience symptoms that flare up and then subside. Because the symptoms come and go, patients and even healthcare providers may misinterpret the symptoms as indigestion or other conditions that might mimic heart-related illness.”

“This is unfortunate because stuttering heart attacks can actually be more serious than other, more acute heart attacks. This is because both patients and healthcare providers may delay treatment, and those delays lead to greater heart damage. Fortunately we did not wait and immediately underwent angiography.” , added Dr. Pandiyan.