SILENT HEART ATTACK SYMPTOMS

Welcome! Recently, in the course of our research about cardiovascular disease, heart attack treatment and symptoms of heart attacks, we've noticed people are also looking for silent heart attack symptoms. Of course, this is somewhat a play on words since the definition of symptom is a sign or an indication of something while the use of the term silent implies the lack of any indication. As we develop the website, we'll dig deeper into silent heart attack symptoms and the various ways to diagnose heart disease. Please contact us with your thoughts, concerns or questions anytime: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Silent Heart Attack Symptoms

According to the American Heart Association, many Americans have "silent" ischemic episodes. They say as many as 3 to 4 million but do not indicate a timeline for that statistic. So, 3 to 4 million a year? We're not sure. The point is that a significant number of people have ischemic episodes without their knowledge. Ischemia is defined as restricted blood flow to a bodily organ. Clearly, we are focusing on cardiac ischemia which is the restriction of blood flow to the heart muscle. It is possible to have and ischemic episode without ever knowing about it. The American Heart Association points out that people with angina (chest pain), may have undiagnosed episodes of ischemia. People with diabetes and/or people that have had previous heart attacks are at higher risk for developing silent ischemic episodes.

 

If there are truly no outward symptoms of a heart attack (angina, numbness, tightness, dizziness, shortness of breathe), the most common ways to diagnose the problem would be: (1) exercise stress test or (2) wearing a Holter Monitor which is basically a portable device that measures and records your electrocardiogram (ECG).

 

Non-invasive tests to diagnose heart disease:

  • Resting electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
  • Chest X-ray
  • Computed tomograghy (CT) Scan
  • Signal-averaged electrocardiogram (SAECG)
  • Holter monitor (ambulatory electrocardiogram)
  • Excercise Stress Test
  • Echocardiogram
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)

Nuclear Imaging Tests:

  • Stress echocardiography
  • MUGA scan
  • Technetium stress test
  • Thallium stress test
  • Pharmacologic stress test (PET)
  • Stress echocardiography


Other Imaging Tests:

  • Cardiac catheterization or coronary angiography
  • Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)

 

***Sources: American Heart Association, Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Health, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic