A foreigner suffered a serious heart attack but thought he had a stomachache

)-A foreign man with a critical coronary artery occlusion and mistakenly thought he had stomach pain was saved by Vietnamese doctors.

On the followingnoon of February 11, Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City said that it had just saved a foreign man who had a heart attack and mistakenly thought of stomach pain.

The patient is Mr. Lee Hyun Joong (48 years old, Korean nationality), with symptoms of pain in the upper abdomen, registered for gastroscopy under painless anesthesia.

Before endoscopy, the cardiologist measured the electrocardiogram, found that the patient had a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (a dangerous form of myocardial infarction, requiring immediate coronary intervention). Coronary angiogram showed that the anterior interventricular artery was completely blocked, blocking blood flow to the heart, causing a heart attack.

The patient underwent emergency revascularization stenting. With the guidance of the interventional imaging system of the robotic arm rotating 360 degrees, integrated with software for high-resolution images (StentBoost Live), the intervention process takes place quickly and accurately. The time from diagnosis to cardiac revascularization was only 25 minutes (shortening by nearly 60% the ideal time of 60 minutes as recommended by the European and American Heart Association). Thanks to quick intervention, the doctors saved the remaining myocardial areas, preventing complications of cardiogenic shock, heart perforation, etc. for the patient.

According to MSc.BSCKI Tran The Vinh, Cardiovascular Intervention Center of Tam Anh General Hospital, this case pain in the upper abdomen is a symptom of a heart attack, but the patient thought it was stomach pain. According to the procedure, before endoscopy, the doctor measures the electrocardiogram, so he can detect signs of myocardial infarction and intervene urgently.

“Myocardial infarction has many symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness, nausea, epigastric pain… Many patients come to the hospital late because they mistakenly think a heart attack is a stomachache. when there are symptoms of epigastric pain or nausea as in the case above,” emphasized Dr. Vinh.