by 
Most of us be aware of common symptoms of a heart attack: crushing chest pain, pain in your shoulder, neck or jaw, nausea and difficulty breathing. When one or more of these symptoms occurs, we know to 911 immediately. A fast response can be lifesaving.
Unfortunately, cardiac arrest symptoms may also be ambiguous, minor or perhaps certain cases, nonexistent.? The American Heart Association warns, “Although you might have warning signs prior to a cardiac arrest, the center attack itself may be your first symptom of an underlying problem.”
Steve Kohon, age 50, didn’t experience heart problems or the common symptoms as he recently suffered a heart attack.? He felt what he described as “achy arms” for about eight weeks, but never thought it may be related to his heart. “It was the kind of ache that reminds you of a muscle ache, maybe working too hard, or lifting something too heavy, nothing that really concerned me.”
On a summer Sunday in June, he and his wife hooked up their boat and decided to go fishing in a nearby lake. His wife, a respiratory therapist, saw him rubbing his arms. When she questioned him about it, he told her his arms were sore and had been for weeks. For his wife, it was a red flag. Steve is really a smoker, and she or he had been concerned about his heart health.
They never made it fishing that day. The pair drove to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital’s emergency room (ER) in Barrington, Ill., where the staff immediately conducted cardiac testing together with a troponin blood test that indicates if there is heart injury. Cardiologist, Dr. Michael Fortsas,?was on call and already in the ER to judge the exam. The blood test demonstrated that Steve’s troponin levels were high.
Dr. Fortsas quickly read his EKG. “The tests clearly showed that Steve was having a heart attack, and we required to stabilize him and obtain him to the cardiac catheterization lab as soon as possible,” says Dr. Fortsas.
Cardiac catheterization allows doctors to determine how good a heart is functioning. An extended, narrow tube, known as a catheter, is inserted right into a circulation system within the branch, and guided towards the heart using a particular X-ray machine. Contrast dye is injected through the catheter to ensure that an X-ray of the patient’s valves, coronary arteries and heart chambers can be created. The test determined that Steve had 95 percent blockage in the circumflex artery.
“Every minute counts whenever a patient has cardiac arrest,” says Dr. Fortsas. “When we say time is muscle, it means that for every minute blood circulation towards the heart is blocked, the center muscle has been missing out on oxygen. At Good Shepherd Hospital our rapid response team moves cardiac patients with the emergency department and in to the cath lab in an average of 53 minutes. This is referred to as door-to-balloon time; 1 hour 30 minutes may be the national benchmark standard of care. In Steve’s case, his door-to-balloon time was under 30 minutes.”
It was determined that Steve needed to have a stent inserted in the heart. A stent is really a small metal mesh tube that gives support inside the artery. Stents are commonly used to help to keep the coronary artery open.
According to Dr. Fortsas, after a heart attack, the risk of having a different one is larger than if you never had a heart attack. Usually a person who has already established a heart attack can resume normal activities with the approval of the physician.
Common symptoms of a cardiac arrest include:
- Chest pain/pressure
- Jaw pain
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea, heartburn
- Sweating
- Arm pain (more commonly the left arm, but might be either arm)
- Upper back pain
Seek medical attention if you exhibit these symptoms.
“Good Shepherd Hospital saved my life,” says Steve. “They established my diagnosis and took care of everything so quickly. I felt great, and I might have been back to operate in a couple of days, but my boss insisted that I set time aside.”
“I now see my cardiologist every nine months. I’ve made alterations in my diet and exercise and aspire to never undergo this again. I understand I’m fortunate,” he adds.
Although they caught no fish that day, Steve and his wife caught his cardiac arrest symptoms early, which more than likely saved his life.
