Hi,
Still coming to terms with the news of having had a heart attack as I had been told I probably had myocarditis (ECG, Doppler, arteries ok).
I am pretty ignorant about the whole topic (no one in my family has ever had heart issues) and thought that every HA was followed by surgery.
Is there anyone here who was told they had a HA based only on the MRI?
please do have a good read of the British Heart Foundation Website, Healing-Heart.
I see you live in france, which certainly 20 years ago had a better reputation for dealing with heart problems than the UK. Perhaps that has changed!
Thanks, I’ll have a look 🙏
I think both systems are facing the same difficulties these days, and getting the right info and sometimes the right diagnosis and treatment is getting more and more difficult 🙄
Sometimes they give you stent if they think it’s necessary .
I’ve never heard of detecting a heart attack via an MRI
I had a blood test to check my Troponin level . So if it is high it means you have had a heart attack
I have a possible infarct on my record from my 50's. I am an asthmatic and a virus destabilized my asthma. It began with a swollen right foot after a stressful phone call. When I went into my PCP my EKG was abnormal which was confirmed by a cardiologist. Then I was referred to a Cardiologist for a full work up. They did EKG on a Cardiac Stress Test and ECG. The ECG showed something including possibly a genetic defect in the heart area. I was told I had a circulation problem and maybe hypertrophy of the heart muscle. He had to stop the Cardiac Stress Test as my BP went up and I got very tired. He said that my heart was getting tired then. I did change my diet and lose weight and that did help. I could not tolerate cardizem.
Hi my HA (which i thought was really nad indigestion) was picked by an echocardiagram about 10 years after the HA and following mri and ct scans. Sometimes surgery isn't required and it doesn't always show up on ECG.
Hello,
About 10% of heart attacks occur without any permanent blockages of the coronary arteries.
A myocardial infarction non obstructive coronary arteries MINOCA. Women are more likely to have this type of heart attack.
A MRI is used to help determine why someone has experienced a MINOCA.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....
Maybe ask your Cardiologist if this is what happened to you?
Possible causes are microvascular or vasospastic angina.
Here's some information from the BHF website about Vasospastic and microvascular angina.
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...
Milkfairy, that made good reading. (Minoca) very helpful in me understanding my son's heart attack. Thank you very much 😊 Sheena xx
I have had a heart attack without surgery and blocked arteries. It’s also known as a MINOCA. Mine was not diagnosed by an MRI, although an MRI can show the presence of ischaemia (narrowing of the arteries) and possible damage from a previous heart attack to the heart muscle. My myocardial bridging (congenital heart defect) went into spasm and this was ruled in as the cause of my heart attack.
My blood work came back positive for elevated troponin at the time, and an angiogram showed my bridge spontaneously spasming which is how my heart attack was diagnosed.
I hope you are able to get some more information from your cardiologist on the possible causes of your heart attack. Further testing may be needed to rule out/in the cause.
All the best.
Tos
in addition to what others have said it is worth knowing that most "heart attacks" do not lead to immediate surgery any more
since the introduction of stents in the 1980s the majority of myocardial infarcts (heart attack with obstructed artery) have been treated by inserting a stent ( a minute tube which keeps the artery open) through a vein in the arm or groin during a cardiac catherisation procedure
this avoids the need for invasive surgery
but advances in diagnostic techniques now mean that it is possible to detect when a "heart attack" does not involve blocked arteries - i write "heart attack" because this is a non-medical term why can describe a variety of conditions with similar symptoms but different causes - modern diagnostic techniques, like angiography, MRI and CT scanning, make it possible to tell the difference between them without surgery
Myocarditis also has very high tropinin levels so often a diagnosis re HA or myocarditis can be difficult. I had both.
I had both myocarditis with pericarditis and 2 heart attacks - 1 was whilst in high dependency ward and wired up to all machines - crash team on the spot instantly and I was VERY lucky.
I have not needed any surgery, no stents etc as my arteries are very clear & healthy. The excessive swelling of my heart & fluid build up caused my heart too much strain resulting in HA.
Definitely possible to have HA with no surgery. Confirmed diagnosis for me was angiogram really but also had, MRI's, ECGs, ultrasound.
Do rest now and let your heart recover from the trauma it has experienced. Hope to hear you are on the mend soon but pls don't rush ❤️🩹
Hi, Healing_Heart,
Every heart attack is not followed by surgery. I had a HA in March 2022, with no surgery.
I had months of getting my head around it all; months of slowly healing; months that included testing such as repeated CT scans, nuclear stress testing, and in August 2023, an echocardiogram; and months of changing my diet and exercise habits. I am still trying to sort problems such as shortness of breath/difficulty breathing and a work in progress in terms of both diet and exercise.
At the time of my HA, I knew that I was having one, and my troponin levels confirmed that. I think that we all likely share a feeling of being gobsmacked with a HA. We didn’t expect it to happen to us; we are surprised, shocked, scared—all of the emotions rolled together.
Try to take stock of any lifestyle changes (such as diet and exercise) that you may need to make. Some people may find that they need to quit smoking or cut back on alcohol or things like sweets/sugars. You can begin to make any of those changes right away. Some people get to take heart rehabilitation therapy, and that can be very helpful. I live in the US, and that was not offered.
Even though you didn’t have surgery, it will take time to recover from the HA. Be patient with yourself during this process. Best wishes to you! ❤️
Thanks Smitty, the thing is I have a very healthy lifestyle, even if of course I could try to find more time to exercise. I told the news to a friend tonight and she couldn’t believe it. I’m THE woman who’s healthy, doesn’t smoke, drinks very occasionally, not overweight and even looks younger than her age. It just doesn’t make any sense… unless it’s linked to the thing we cannot name, which I got 3 times (2 sure) inc last summer.
The only thing I can find maybe is that I had years of intense stress due to family problems, but things were actually much better when I had my heart issues.
I was the same as you.Very fit, no risk factors, yet 11 years ago I was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
I was later diagnosed with a rarer type of angina following a specialised angiogram.
Sometimes life bowls us a curved ball.
I didn’t know there was a specialized angiogram. How is it performed?
yes - mine was only detected by MRI. I was told usually people go in with a heart attack and they do an angiogram and put a stent in. I went into hospital and my arteries were unobstructed so it was relatively unusual. Only the MRI confirmed the damage to my heart.
Have you been told why you had a heart attack without blocked coronary arteries, a MINOCA? It's important so you can't have the appropriate treatment to treat the possible underlying cause.
Only that it could be due to high BP and was given meds just a few days ago
Right- so exactly like me then. How long after did you have your MRI done?
I had one the day after, one 7 weeks later and one 6 months later. I had a thrombus (blood clot) in my heart that is now resolved. All 3 MRIs showed evidence of a heart attack but there was some healing but still damage.
Wow, your docs seemed way more efficient than mine. Did they see the blood clot in the MRI? That’s something I’m worried about as I was back to normal at first and then my breathing issues started.
Yes they saw the clot on the MRI but the last one showed it was resolved. A CT scan showed I had mild narrowing of one of my arteries so maybe that caused the clot but they don’t fully know. I’m awaiting a bubble echo to rule in or out a hole in the heart. They haven’t proposed any surgery yet and think it maybe unlikely but we will see.
can’t they see a whole on the MRI?! I’d never heard of a possible joke in the heart. I guess being just new here, everything sounds new to me. Anyway, best of luck with everything 😘
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