Heart attack | Difference between type 1 and type 2

Heart attack Difference between type 1 and type 2

Heart attack in medical term also called as Myocardial Infarction (MI). It is a medical emergency condition in which there is insufficient or blockage of blood supply to the heart muscles. Due to lack of blood and oxygen supply affected heart tissues dies if emergency care is not provided.

The most common symptoms of heart attack are chest pain or tightness. The pain may radiate to the lower jaw, neck, arms mostly left-sided, or back.

It may also be associated with perspiration, tiredness, abnormal heartbeat, etc.

The symptoms may be aggravated by physical exertion or exercise.

Also read: 7 differentiating features that differentiate between cardiac and noncardiac chest pain

Type 1 and Type 2 heart attack

Let’s understand both types of heart attacks in simple language.

Type 1

70% of patients who present with myocardial infarction have type 1. These patients have underlying clots or thrombosis. These patients have underlying coronary artery disease means obstructive atherosclerotic coronary artery disease with acute thrombosis as underlying pathology which can be detected during angiography.

They may have up to 70%, 80%, 85%, or such percentage of thrombotic artery damage. Suddenly this blockage increases by 10 to 15% or there is a rupture of plaque and they suffer from heart attack.

Cardiologist thrombolysis the clot and performance PTCA means Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty. Simply doctor opens coronary artery by putting stent at damaged site.

Type 2

28% of the people have type II heart attack. They don’t have a blockage in the underlying artery means that don’t have coronary artery disease or plaque in the coronary arteries.

They suffered from a heart attack due to the sudden formation of a clot or spasm of the artery for many reasons such as increased demand for oxygen or lower supply of oxygen. This can happen in dysfunction of endothelium of artery, spasm of the coronary artery, embolism in coronary artery from other sites, irregular heartbeat also known as arrhythmia, severe anemia, respiratory failure, hypertension, hypotension, etc.

In such cases, if the clot is dissolved, they don’t need angioplasty or stent in the coronary artery as they don’t have proper coronary artery disease. After dissolving the clot underlying causes can also be treated to prevent heart attack again in the future.

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