The Pathophysiological Processes of Myocardial Infarction (Essay Sample)

The Pathophysiological processes of Myocardial Infarction
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Upon medical diagnosis by the doctor, Mr. Smith suffered a Myocardial Infarction (MI) commonly known as heart attack. The doctor tells Mr. Smith that, some of his heart muscles had died. This case study will examine the pathological processes associated with heart attack and the pathophysiological processes involved in cell injury leading to heart attacks.
Myocardial Infarction is the necrosis of heart muscles resulting from ischemia (Kumar et al., 2012). Mr. Smith was likely to have suffered from a thrombus (embolus) that developed in one of his coronary arteries leading to blood vessel blockage. The blockage of this vessel limited blood supply to the surrounding tissues. Hence, they lacked oxygen. The lack of oxygen in the tissue area made it hypoxic (McCance, 2015). However, the blood flow was restored quickly to the coronary artery in Mr. Smith’s case leading to the "death of heart muscles" around this area
Reversible and irreversible cell injuries during MI are results of myocardial responses to Ischemia, lack of adequate oxygen in the heart. When oxygen supply declines, aerobic glycolysis cease leading to accumulation of noxious metabolites (lactic acid). This causes a rapid loss of contractility within a minute of the ischemia. According to Kumar et al., 2012; ultrastructural changes occur including relaxation of myofibrillar, glycogen depletion, cell, and mitochondrial swelling. However, these early changes are reversible hence reversible cell injuries.
Server ischemia lasting 20 to 40 minutes causes death and damage of myocytes. It leads to coagulation necrosis. Longer ischemia periods cause microvascular thrombosis resulting to irreversible vessel and tissue injuries (Kumar et al., 2012). According to this analysis, Mr. Smith suffered reversible cell injuries in this case study because his MI session did not lead to server outcomes such as stroke or death, which a...