What is the most important factor in treating a heart attack?

Symptoms of a heart attack vary from chest pain to shortness of breath, sweating, nausea and even jaw pain. If you notice these symptoms, call 911 immediately because trained medical professionals can start treatment right away, and every minute counts.

Those healthcare professionals will perform an electrocardiogram (EKG) on you and transmit the results to the closest emergency department. There, the emergency room doctor will review the EKG and can activate the cardiac catheterization laboratory, which includes calling in all the cardiac catheterization lab technicians, nurses and doctors.

If you have a completely closed artery, the standard of care is for that artery to be opened within 90 minutes of you going to the emergency department. Doctors say that time is muscle: The more time that passes from the onset of your chest pain, the more heart muscle that dies.

The most important factor in treating a heart attack is time. Dr. Spencer B. King, III, an executive director and the interim president of the Saint Joseph’s Heart and Vascular Institute in Atlanta, says, “Time is muscle. Time is the key ingredient.”

The good news is that many heart attack survivors have an excellent prognosis thanks to modern advances. This is especially true if treatment is started within one hour of the onset of symptoms.

Dr. Timothy J. Gardner, the former president of the American Heart Association, concludes, “I want to make one thing very clear. There is well-established evidence that the emergency treatment of heart attack patients with emergency or very rapid catheterization or clot-busting drugs with catheters is the best treatment for patients with acute heart attacks.”