All right. So let's talk about two terms
that people confuse all the time and what are those two terms?
Those two terms are Ischemia versus infarction.
So a lot of the times people confuse these terms because
while they both start with the letter I ischemia versus
infarction, both of them end up having some sort of an issue
where you see it. And we'll talk about, I'm going
to use cardio as an example here because I think that's going to
be the highest yield where it's going to show up.
So with ischemia, it is actually a decreased blood flow to a
certain portion of the heart. Again, we're going to stick to
just cardio right now, whereas infarction is actually no blood
flow. So can Ischemia lead to infarct?
Absolutely, absolutely. Can Ischemia stand by itself?
Absolutely. So again, Ischemia is going to
be decreased of blood flow, which means I'm going to have
decreased oxygen to that portion of the heart.
If I have decreased blood flow or decreased oxygen, it's going
to lead to chest pain and chest pain is known as angina, whereas
infarction is a complete loss of blood flow.
So it's not going to just lead to chest pain, it it's going to
lead to full blown necrosis or cell death and that cell death
or are cardiomyocytes which are what cardio meaning heart, myo
meaning muscle sites meaning cells.
So the cells of our heart muscle are now dying.
So there's a big difference between a lack of blood flow and
oxygen to a portion of the heart which is going to lead to that
chest pain or that angina versus an infarct where we have no
blood flow and that portion of the heart is dying off.
So the difference between the two is ischemia is milder than
infarct. However, ischemia or that lack
of blood flow could just be the beginning of that blockage that
will ultimately lead to an infarct if we do not do
something about it. What we want to do here with
angina, we want to take care of that blood flow.
So a lot of different things we can do, medication is one of
them invasive procedures like stents is another one of them
infarct. We're watching out for these
cardiomyocytes dying off because there is no blood flow, there is
no blood flow. So again these cardiomyocytes
are dying off. We're worried about what is the
pneumonic that I always talk about that is going to save you
and or help you significantly is ask graft.
Because when these cardiomyocytes start to die off,
they are going to release a lot of potassium.
So now we're worried about ventricular fibrillation or if
these cells are dying off because of no blood flow because
of an infarct. It can also lead to weakness in
the cell, weakness in the heart wall which means it can rupture
and now we've got hemorrhaging. So again, ischemia, lack of
blood flow, lack of oxygen can lead to chest pain or angina
infarct, full blown block of blood flow leading to necrosis
cell death or looking out for ask graft.
So I hope you understand the difference between the two and
don't get them confused. Of course I use them just for
cardio right now because that's super high yield.
But both ischemia and infarction can because or can happen at any
part of the body, any part of the body.
Hope you enjoy it. Take care.