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Acute Myocardial Infarction

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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), also known as heart attack or acute coronary syndrome (ACS), is a clinical condition that occurs when blood flow to regions of the heart is suddenly interrupted, causing myocardial ischemia and eventually cell death. Most commonly this is caused by coronary atherosclerosis and is initiated by the rupture or erosion of a complex, lipid-laden plaque that then triggers thrombus formation causing the total or subtotal occlusion of the coronary artery in question. Rarely, non-atherosclerotic processes such as vasospasm, vasculitis, and spontaneous coronary artery dissection may also lead to myocardial infarction.

Acute myocardial infarction is further classified into ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), depending on the presence of ST-segment elevation on the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). ST-segment elevation is typically associated with thrombi that are completely occlusive, leading to a large...

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References and Further Reading

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Siqin Ye

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  1. Siqin Ye
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Correspondence to Siqin Ye .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

    Marc Gellman

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  1. School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Linda C. Baumann

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Ye, S. (2018). Acute Myocardial Infarction. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1243-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1243-2

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