Heart prick and heart attack

Synonyms: Myocardial infarction, heart attack Another clinical picture that leads to severe heart stabbing is the so-called myocardial infarction (colloquially: heart attack). This condition is an acute, life-threatening event that can be triggered by various underlying diseases of the heart. As a rule, during a myocardial infarction with a severe stabbing of the heart, a circulatory disorder (ischemia) of the heart muscle cells occurs.

As a result, those heart muscle cells that cannot be supplied with sufficient oxygen die. In most cases, the direct cause of acute ischemia is the blockage of individual arteriosclerotically altered coronary vessels by blood clots. The sudden occurrence of severe heart stabbing is considered a leading symptom of myocardial infarction.

This specific stabbing of the heart is usually a severe pain (so-called “pain of destruction”) in the chest area that usually lasts more than 20 minutes. Typically, this stabbing of the heart radiates into the left shoulder, left arm, neck and lower jaw. Many of the affected patients also report that the stabbing of the heart radiates into the upper abdomen.

In addition, patients also show heavy sweating during the heart stinging, accompanied by nausea and even vomiting. The affected patients experience a state of mortal fear during myocardial infarction with cardiac stabbing. You can find more information under our topic: Heart attack Alternatively, this article might also be of interest to you: Troponin Test

Heart failureHeart failure

Another disease that can lead to occasional heart stabbing is the so-called heart failure. Heart failure (synonym: cardiac insufficiency) is a disease in which the muscular hollow organ is no longer able to pump sufficient amounts of oxygenated blood into the body’s circulation. As a result, there is a significant lack of oxygen at the organ level.

Until today, heart failure, which can occasionally lead to heart stabbing, is one of the most frequent causes of death in Germany. In medicine, different forms of heart failure are distinguished according to the affected heart segments (global heart failure, left heart failure, right heart failure). The symptoms of this disease are largely determined by the parts of the heart affected.

Patients suffering from weakness of the left heart develop symptoms such as heart stabbing, coughing and dyspnea during the course of the disease. These symptoms are usually less pronounced at rest and only become apparent under physical exertion. Particularly severe cases of left heart failure are not only manifested by the occurrence of heart pricks.

As a rule, affected patients develop water retention in the alveoli (pulmonary edema) after some time, resulting in severe breathing difficulties. Right-heart failure, on the other hand, is usually manifested by water accumulation in the area of the ankles. The reason for this is that the restricted function of the right heart means that not enough blood can be transported back to the organ. Other symptoms of right heart failure include heart stabbing, dry skin, inflammation and wound healing disorders. You can find more information on this topic at: Heart failureHeart failure