How do paramedics treat a heart attack?

“A suspected heart attack is treated as an emergency because of the possible damage to your heart, and the risk of death. Early treatment can save your life .... Paramedics usually do an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check the heart's rhythm and find out if the symptoms are due to a heart attack. read more

Interpreting 12-lead ECGs is one of the areas paramedics get ED-physician level training in, because it is crucial we be able to identify a heart attack in the field. Before we continue, let's go over what a heart attack is. The medical term is a myocardial infarction (MI) which refers to heart tissue (myocardium) dying, from a lack of oxygen. read more

From this and their medical history we can usually tell if it’s a heart attack or not. If there’s any uncertainty, we can fax the ECG from the ambulance to the hospital for further assessment. If the patient is having a heart attack, we give aspirin and clopidogrel, which both reduce the risk of a further clot forming. read more

This changes the electrical tracing on the 12-lead ECG in predictable ways that allow an ER physician, cardiologist, or paramedic to identify the presence of an MI (heart attack) and even tell which coronary artery is blocked, and where. read more

Primary angioplasty is used as an emergency treatment for people who've had a heart attack. Read what the paramedic's role is during this procedure. Primary angioplasty is used as an emergency treatment for people who've had a heart attack. read more

Heart Attack: Emergency Treatment. A heart attack, or myocardial (my-oh-CAR-dee-ol) infarction(in-FARK-shin) (MI), occurs when blood is blocked from flowing to the heart. read more