Cardiology Research and Reports Copy rights@ Abdelmonem Awad Hegazy et.al. Auctores Publishing LLC – Volume 4(5)-056 www.auctoresonline.org ISSN: 2692-9759 Page 1 of 11 Myocardial Infarction: Risk Factors, Pathophysiology, Classification, Assessment and Management Mustafa Abdelmonem Hegazy 1 , Kamal Saad Mansour 1 , Ahmed Mohamed Alzyat 1 , Mohammad Abdelhady Mohammad 1 , Abdelmonem Awad Hegazy 2,3* 1 Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig City 44519, Egypt. 2 College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology (MUST), 6th October City 12566, Egypt. 3 Anatomy and Embryology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig City 44519, Egypt. *Corresponding Author: Abdelmonem Awad Hegazy, Anatomy and Embryology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig City 44519, Egypt. Received date: March 15, 2022; Accepted date: March 28, 2022; Published date: May 30, 2022 Citation: Hegazy MA; Kamal S Mansour KS; Alzyat AM; Mohammad MA, Hegazy AA. (2022). Myocardial Infarction: Risk Factors, Pathophysiology, Classification, Assessment and Management. Cardiology Research and Reports. 4(5); DOI: 10.31579/2692-9759/056 Copyright: © 2022, Abdelmonem Awad Hegazy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Myocardial infarction is a serious health problem affecting populations worldwide. Proper and prompt diagnosis and management is critical to achieving good prognosis and avoiding or reducing morbidity and mortality. It is essential for clinicians to be aware of the risks, diagnosis and treatment. In this review we aim to update and discuss knowledge of myocardial infarction with respect to risk factors, pathophysiology, types or classification, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment in a concise and simplified manner in order to define a simple comprehensive guide for clinicians. The available literature has been searched, reviewed, studied, analyzed, written in a simple understanding method, discussed and concluded. For prophylaxis, it has been found that moderate muscular exercise, regular consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits, avoidance of smoking and stress, and low consumption of fat are associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease in populations of all age groups worldwide. The diagnosis of myocardial infarction is based primarily on evaluations of clinical features, typical abnormalities in ST-segment and T wave of ECG findings and rise in cardiac enzymes or biomarkers such as plasma troponin. At the same time, the key to treatment is reperfusion of the myocardium and restoration of coronary blood flow. Keywords: myocardial ischemia; cardiac enzymes; risk factors; management Introduction Myocardial infarction (MI) is sudden ischemia of the heart muscle tissue due to lack or obstruction of coronary blood flow, which leads to its damage (Frangogiannis, 2015). The heart muscle is anatomically fed by two major coronary arteries, the "right and left". Each one terminates by small branches supplying the myocardium from the epicardial side. The left circumflex and left anterior descending “anterior interventricular” arteries form the main two terminal branches of left coronary artery. Although there is anastomosis between the small terminal branches of the coronary arteries, this anastomosis is insufficient if one of them is occluded (Hegazy, 2018). Obstruction or stenosis of any of them leads to a decrease in coronary blood flow and thus the development of MI. The MI is a leading cause of death in developed countries and has become a growing health problem in developing countries other than infectious diseases. The ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is defined by a characteristic clinical picture of myocardial ischemia associated with electrocardiographic (ECG) ST-segment elevation suggestive of coronary occlusion (Gaziano et al, 2010; Kushner and Bates, 2013). Although this is difficult to be fully ascertained, it is estimated that approximately 500,000 patients in the United States are affected by ST-elevation myocardial infarction annually (Antman et al, 2004). Coronary artery disease (CAD) mortality in the United States was approximately 17% of all deaths in 2007 (Roger et al, 2011). In 2001, there were about 7.3 million deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD). About three-quarters are encountered in low- and middle-income countries. This represents an increasing health burden on the economies of these countries. The escalating increase is attributed to changes in lifestyle and increased life span with acquisition of more relevant risk factors (Gaziano et al, 2010). It was noted that the mortality rate among males is higher than among females at young ages. However, it often converges with age (Bots et al, 2017). Since the damage from myocardial infarction is irreversible, it is essential to properly diagnose and resuscitate the heart as soon as possible when expected in patients. The sooner treatment takes place less than 6 hours after symptoms appear, the better the prognosis (Mechanic et al, 2021). Therefore, the aim of the current review is to update knowledge of myocardial infarction regarding risk causes, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment in a concise and simplified manner in order to be a Open Access Review Article Cardiology Research and Reports Abdelmonem Awad Hegazy * AUCTORES Globalize your Research