When most people imagine a heart attack, they picture crushing chest pain, dramatic collapse, and an emergency siren. While that scenario still happens, cardiologists say many modern heart attacks occur without classic chest pain. These are often called silent heart attacks, and they are more common than many realise. “A lot of heart attacks don't look like heart attacks. Many come on slowly, without the usual signs and symptoms. People call them "silent" heart attacks, and they happen a lot more often than most people think,” said Dr Deebanshu Gupta, Interventional Cardiologist, Sarvodya Hospital.
A silent heart attack, also medically called a silent myocardial infarction, occurs when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked — but without obvious symptoms. The heart sustains damage, yet the warning signs are mild, unusual, or completely absent. “
The heart is hurt, but the signs are so mild, strange, or just not there at all that you don't even know something is wrong,” said Dr Gupta. Studies suggest that nearly 1 in 5 heart attacks may go unnoticed. In many cases, people only discover old heart damage years later during an ECG, echocardiogram, or cardiac MRI done for unrelated reasons.
According to Dr Gupta, several factors contribute to missed or subtle symptoms:
Silent does not mean symptom-free but simply means the signs are easy to miss
Silent does not mean symptom-free. It simply means the signs are easy to miss. And so, you must watch for things like:
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There are a few groups that face a greater risk of silent heart attacks, including:
“It doesn't mean it's safe just because you don't feel it. Heart attacks that don't make any noise. It makes it more likely that you will have heart failure in the future. You are even more likely to have a stroke,” said Dr Gupta. It can kill at about the same rate as heart attacks, which everyone notices. So, it is important to know that if you put off treatment, it would mean you miss out on life-saving drugs and procedures.
Most of the time, doctors find out about the condition when it happens by chance. An ECG can find scars from old heart attacks. An echocardiogram shows that the heart isn't moving properly in one area. A cardiac MRI shows that there is scar tissue in the heart muscle. “These tools have changed what we know about heart attacks and how many go undetected,” said Dr Gupta.
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