Heart attack or just chest pain? Know crucial difference and best treatment option that could save your life

Heart attack or just chest pain? Know crucial difference and best treatment option that could save your life

Heart attack or just chest pain? Know crucial difference and best treatment option that could save your life ByZarafshan Shiraz, New Delhi Feb 12, 2025 07:10 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Doctor reveals the #1 mistake people make during a heart attack and suggests the best treatment option that can save your life but only if you act fast.

Heart attack is the number one cause of death all around the world. Most of the patients have predisposing factors like smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure or familial tendencies.

Heart Attacks Strike Without Warning—Here’s the Life-Saving Treatment You Need to Know!(Image by Pexels)

In the modern era, lifestyle issues like obesity, inactivity and work-related stress also contribute significantly. Still, commonly heart attacks occur suddenly without any warning, making them more fatal and in such a scenario, timely treatment is of utmost importance.

Without this, the chances of mortality (chance of death) are significantly high, up to 50% in some conditions like cardiogenic shock.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Tamiruddin Danwade, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Medicover Hospitals in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, asserted that primary angioplasty (PAMI) is the best treatment option available for heart attack. He explained, “In PAMI, the patient is taken to the cardiac catheterisation laboratory immediately (according to guidelines within 90 minutes of hospitalisation) to perform the angiography to check where the block is. Almost all patients require an angioplasty right away, where the block is removed by putting a metallic stent (spring-like structure).”

Dr Tamiruddin Danwade elaborated, “Although it sounds very aggressive, this treatment modality has changed the outcomes dramatically, and now we can save most of the lives who used to perish due to this devastating condition. In cardiology practice, the biggest problem faced is patients and relatives do not accept the diagnosis of a heart attack itself. Even if they accept it, many of them take a lot of time to make decisions (time is muscle in heart attack patients, it’s like an ongoing fire, if you don’t extinguish it in time, it causes more damage and is potentially life-threatening).”

Another common clinical scenario in a heart disease patient is a stable person presenting with chest pain suggesting a heart problem (angina) but no heart attack. Dr Tamiruddin Danwade suggested, “In such a condition, it is advised that an elective angiography be done. After angiography, there is also time to make a decision. We can wait for a couple of days, sometimes weeks for angioplasty. What the common man needs to understand is that these two conditions are drastically different: one is life-threatening where we have to act immediately, and the other is just a warning sign where there is a lot of time to make decisions. Patients and their families must understand the differences between these conditions to ensure the best possible outcomes.”

The goal is to present evidence-based facts and to foster a greater sense of trust in the efficacy and safety of modern medical interventions. The ultimate objective is to empower individuals to make informed decisions about their healthcare, ensuring that they receive the right treatment at the right time.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.