The risk factors for atherosclerosis for patients are high blood pressure, constant stress, smoking, and lack of physical activity, leading to cholesterol deposition in blood vessels. The patient is 50; age is also a factor conducive to atherosclerosis.
The most valuable for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction is determining the activity of several enzymes in the blood serum, including creatine phosphokinase and especially its MV fraction, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, troponin, and myoglobin (Patibandla et al., 2019). The levels of these enzymes will be highly elevated in case of MI. Moreover, the levels of serum electrolytes should be determined since, in myocardial infarction, the level of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and chlorine may change. However, this does not always happen; with an uncomplicated course of myocardial infarction, the level of electrolytes may not be changed.
In myocardial infarction, there is usually a complete or partial sharp decrease in blood flow to the myocardium due to occlusion by atherosclerotic plaques and blood clots in the lumen of the coronary vessels. Atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries is the process in which fats (cholesterol and others) are deposited in the walls of the arteries. Places, where a large number of lipid accumulations occur, are called atherosclerotic plaques. An unstable plaque is torn under the influence of various factors, such as physical exertion, spasm, or a hypertensive crisis. Platelets accumulate at the site of erosion, and blood clotting is activated, leading to blockage of the coronary artery by a thrombus, which increases until it closes the entire lumen of the artery (Palasubramaniam et al., 2019). If the blood flow in the pool of the thrombosed artery is not restored, then necrosis of the corresponding part of the myocardium develops.
References
Palasubramaniam, J., Wang, X., & Peter, K. (2019). Myocardial infarction—from atherosclerosis to thrombosis: Uncovering new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 39(8), 176-185.
Patibandla, S., Gupta, K., & Alsayouri, K. (2019). Cardiac Enzymes. Web.