What should I do if I or someone I care about is having these symptoms?
Go to your nearest hospital emergency room or Chest Pain Center. Here, doctors can examine the symptoms and determine if these are signs of an early heart attack. It is better to go to the hospital than your doctor’s office, because the hospital has advanced testing facilities and state-of-the-art treatment.
Do this right away. Don't wait. A delay of a day or two, or even a few hours, could literally make the difference between life and death. If you, or someone you care about, ever experience any of these warning signs, get help right away. Time is critical to saving your heart muscle from damage. Call 911 or have someone drive you to the hospital for emergency care.
What is a chest pain center?
In 1981, the first Chest Pain Center (CPC) was opened at St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, and has since served as a prototype for over 800 similar emergency facilities in the United States and globally. These centers separate chest pain patients from the general emergency department population and provide a cost-effective, safe, comfortable site for rapid monitoring and assessment of chest pain.
Why is it important to be seen quickly?
If needed, doctors can give thrombolytic drugs or balloon angioplasty that break up blood clots and stabilize arteries. But these methods are effective only if given within the first hours of a heart attack or before the arteries have blocked.
What will happen at the hospital?
Doctors should be able to diagnose your symptoms either immediately or within a few hours. If needed, they will begin life-saving heart attack treatment on the spot.
At the hospital, doctors will:
- Ask questions about your medical history, family history and lifestyle choices.
- Electronically measure how well your heart functions while you are lying still (the test is called an "electrocardiogram" or EKG) or while you run on a treadmill (stress test).
- Look for signs of a heart attack in samples of your blood.
[ Page 1 ][ Page 2 ][ Page 3 ][ Page 4 ][ Page 5][ Page 6 ]
Home | What's New | What is EHAC? | Abstracts & Articles
Reader's Digest | Contact Us | Search
Tips for Searching
www.ehac.org.
Site by AllSoldOut Internet Solutions
Visit the Clinical Information EHAC site at www.chestpaincenters.org.
Copyright © 1996-2001
by St. Agnes Healthcare. All Rights Reserved.
|
ABOUT
US FROM
DR. BAHR MORE
INFO SUBSCRIBE |