Treatment during a heart attack

Treatment during a heart attack

·         CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) 

Some heart attack patients stop breathing; they do not move or respond when spoken to or touched, they may also be coughing. If this is the case CPR should be started straight away. This involves: 

Manual chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth
30 chest compressions to the heart followed by  two mouth-to-mouth resuscitation breaths.

Defibrillator
This is a CPS medical device. It sends electric shocks across the patient's chest - the aim is to use electricity to shock the heart back into proper activity.

·         300mg of Aspirin

A 300mg dose of aspirin is often given to patients during a heart attack. Aspirin will help stop the clot in the artery from growing.

·         Thrombolytics

These dissolve the blood clots. These include alteplase and streptokinase. They should be injected into the patient as soon as possible. If the blood supply to the muscle can be restored soon enough, much of the affected heart muscle will survive.

·         Painkillers

Morphine is sometimes injected into the patient to control the pain and discomfort.