Facts: Over a quarter of a million people suffer a heart attack each year in the UK. This results in about 160,000 premature deaths.

Symptoms: Some heart attacks do not cause any pain and will only be discovered by a medical test.

More often, a heart attack causes severe pain in the chest, stomach, neck or shoulders. The pain lasts from minutes up to hours and can sometimes be confused with severe indigestion.

During an attack, the heart rate becomes rapid and the person may become light headed, sweat, get short of breath and feel sick.

Medical names for a heart attack include coronary thrombosis or myocardial infarction.

Causes: A coronary artery is suddenly blocked by a blood clot (thrombosis). This stops the blood flow to a portion of the heart muscle which dies if the supply is not quickly restored. In some attacks, only a small part of the heart muscle is damaged and the person can recover. If a large area of the heart is affected it is fatal.

Diagnosis: If the patient is conscious, they may well be able to describe their symptoms.

Medical tests include an electrocardiogram (ECG) which measures the heart's electrical activity or a blood test which shows higher than normal levels of certain enzymes.

Treatments: Initial action is to stabilise the patient. Oxygen is given to assist the breathing and a drug, called a thrombolytic, is given to break up the blood clot that has blocked the coronary artery. If the heart is racing too fast it beats irregularly and does not pump efficiently. This causes the blood pressure to fall dangerously low and, if this happens, a defibrillator can be used which gives the heart an electric shock to restore its natural rhythm.

Once recovered from the heart attack, patients will be advised to reduce fatty foods and salt in the diet, stop smoking and drinking alcohol. Planned exercise and drugs to regulate the heart beat will help to prevent future attacks.

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