PHARMACOLOGY CASE STUDY

Pharmacology Case Study



Pharmacology Case Study

Question 1

Myocardial Infarction (MI)

Myocardial Infraction (MI) is the other medical name for heart attack. In plain English MI is the term in medical that is used to describe the non functioning of heart muscle cells as a result of lack of supply of oxygen and other nutrients due to the blockage of the coronary artery that is used to for that particular part of the heart muscle to supply oxygen. This happens as a consequence of hardening of arteries, called arteriosclerosis in coronary vessels.

One in five women has some form of heart or blood vessel disease. 38% of women who have heart attacks die within the first year compared to 25% of men. 35% of women have a second heart attack within six years of the first attack compared to 18% of men. Over 60,000 women die of stroke each year; approximately 60% of stroke deaths occur in women” (IC).

“Myocardial infarction is a serious result of coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease occurs from atherosclerosis, when arteries become narrow or hardened due to cholesterol plaque build-up. Further narrowing may occur from thrombi (blood clots) that form on the surfaces of plaques. Myocardial infarction occurs when a coronary artery is so severely blocked that there is a significant reduction or break in the blood supply, causing damage or death to a portion of the myocardium (heart muscle). Depending on the extent of the heart muscle damage, the patient may experience significant disability or die as a result of myocardial infarction. In addition to atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction may result from a temporary contraction or spasm of a coronary artery. When this occurs, the artery narrows and the blood flow from the artery is significantly reduced or stopped. Though the cause of coronary artery spasm is still unknown, the condition can occur in both normal blood vessels and those partially blocked by plaques”.

With the disease, there are also certain risk factors associated that may or may not be controllable. For instance smoking and physical activities are controllable risk factors while age, genetics and family history are non-controllable factors.

Accordingly, with respect to the risk factor of age, “four out of five patients with coronary artery disease are 65 years of age or older. After menopause, females are more likely to die within the first year of having a myocardial infarction than males. With respect to gender males are at higher risk of myocardial infarction than women are, and males are also more likely to suffer myocardial infarction earlier in life. However, heart disease kills more females each year than any other disease, including breast cancer. An alarming survey reported by the American Heart Association found that only 8% of women perceive heart disease as the greatest threat to their health despite the fact that heart disease is the leading cause of death among both women and men. Over 500,000 American women die from cardiovascular disease each year--twice the number of deaths from all cancers ...