The potential for pharmacologic reversal of heart failure remodeling may be finite despite the use of complementary therapies. Myocardial infarction is a very serious, life threatening medical event and accounts for approximately 500,000 deaths a year. CAD is a disease in which cholesterol forms deposits inside the arteries of the heart. Cholesterol plaques narrow the arteries and prevent blood from nourishing the cardiac tissues with oxygen. Myocardial infarctions can also be caused by the use of illicit drugs, particularly cocaine.
Cocaine causes intense spasms of the arteries of the heart, depriving the heart of oxygen.
Tissue death causes electrical irregularities, which prompt the heart to pump in an irregular and erratic manner. Classic symptoms of a myocardial infarction are intense chest pain or pressure, nausea, shortness of breath, increased perspiration, and a feeling of impending doom. Often the chest pain may radiate to the left arm, jaw, and back. Some patients may faint, or experience lung congestion. In a quarter of patients, no symptoms may be present at all.