Table of contents:
- Why are people who have had a heart attack prone to heart failure?
- How to assess cardiac remodeling that occurs after an attack
- What can be done to prevent heart failure?
A person who has had a heart attack will usually experience some damage to the heart muscle. Damage to the muscle in the heart can increase the risk of developing heart failure. Well, preventing heart failure is the most important part after you have a heart attack. How to prevent heart failure? This is the answer.
Why are people who have had a heart attack prone to heart failure?
Heart attack patients are at an increased risk of developing heart failure, often within the first few hours or days after a heart attack. Although the damage to the heart muscle is only moderate, the risk of heart failure is still very large. Medication or therapy after a heart attack and changing a lifestyle from an unhealthy one to a healthy one are very important to prevent heart failure.
Heart failure that occurs after a heart attack depends largely on how the undamaged heart muscle responds. After you have a heart attack, your healthy heart muscle will "stretch" and take over the workload of the damaged muscle. This stretching causes the heart to enlarge, a process known as cardiac remodeling.
This stretch helps the undamaged heart muscle to contract stronger and allows it to do more work. In simple terms, the heart muscle "behaves" like a rubber band. The more you stretch it, the louder and more "snap" it has. However, if you use too many rubber bands, or continue to stretch them repeatedly for a long period of time, the rubber bands will lose their "snaps" and become stretchy or weak. The same thing will happen to the heart muscle.
Stretching the heart muscle causes the heart muscle to weaken, increasing the risk of heart failure. Cardiac remodeling can only help the heart to work better temporarily because of the risk of heart failure. If heart remodeling can be prevented or limited, the risk of heart failure is reduced.
How to assess cardiac remodeling that occurs after an attack
Estimating how much remodeling of the heart occurs is the most important part of assessing the performance of the heart muscle after an attack. To check this out, you can doMultigated Acquisition (MUGA) scan or echocardiogram. These two methods are used to see the performance of the left ventricle of the heart.
To estimate the amount of heart muscle damage caused by an attack is usually measured by the left ventricular ejection fraction or better known as Left Ventricle Ejection Fraction (LVEF). LVEF is the percentage of blood excreted by the left ventricle with each heart beat.
An enlarged heart due to remodeling causes the left ventricular ejection fraction to decrease. If the LVEF is less than 40% (normal 55% or higher) then the muscle damage that occurs is quite significant. The lower the LVEF, the greater the damage and this increases the risk of heart failure.
What can be done to prevent heart failure?
Several studies have shown that there are two drugs that can significantly reduce cardiac remodeling after an attack while preventing heart failure, namely beta receptor blockers (Beta Blocker) and inhibitorsAngiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE).
Beta blockers work by blocking beta receptors on the cells of the body. One of the functions of beta receptors is to increase the contractility of the heart muscle. Beta blockers also reduce the risk of sudden death in patients after a heart attack and prevent and even "undo" heart remodeling after an attack. The beta blockers most commonly prescribed after an attack are tenormine (atenolol) and lopressor (metoprolol).
Meanwhile, ACE inhibitors significantly reduce the risk of heart failure by preventing remodeling of the left ventricle of the heart. Not only that, ACE inhibitors also reduce the risk of recurrent heart attack, stroke and sudden death.
The ACE inhibitors most commonly used after a heart attack are vasotec (enalapril) and capoten (captopril). Not only drugs can prevent you from developing heart failure. Here are some things you can do to prevent heart failure, including:
- Eat a healthy diet and limit your intake of salt, fat and sugar. Examples of healthy foods are fruits and vegetables, high protein foods (such as fish, meat, or nuts), starchy foods (such as rice, potatoes, or bread), and foods made from dairy or dairy products.
- Maintain weight by exercising regularly.
- Quit smoking and limit your alcohol consumption.
- Maintain cholesterol and blood pressure levels at healthy limits.
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