The medical term for a heart attack is?

The medical term for a heart attack is "myocardial infarction." This term specifically refers to the condition where blood flow to a part of the heart muscle is blocked, usually by a clot, leading to damage or death of the heart muscle tissue. Understanding this term is crucial in the context of emergency medicine as it describes the underlying pathology of a heart attack.

Other terms, while related to heart function, do not denote a heart attack specifically. Myocardial ischemia refers to a condition where blood flow to the heart is reduced, which can lead to chest pain (angina) but does not necessarily indicate tissue death. Myocardial hypoxia indicates a lack of oxygen in heart tissue, which can also be a condition associated with ischemia but does not capture the full implications of infarction. Metabolic heart failure pertains to the heart's ability to pump blood effectively, which can be a result of various conditions but does not directly describe a heart attack. Thus, myocardial infarction is the precise medical terminology used to denote this critical condition.