The medical term for a heart attack, occurring when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked, usually by a blood clot in a coronary artery. This leads to death of heart muscle tissue due to lack of oxygen.
From Greek 'myo' (muscle), 'kardia' (heart), and Latin 'infarctus' meaning stuffed or blocked. The term 'infarction' comes from 'infarcire' meaning to stuff in, describing how blocked blood vessels become filled with clotted blood.
Myocardial infarction literally means 'heart muscle stuffing' - the 'stuffing' refers to how blood clots plug up the coronary arteries like cork in a bottle! The word 'infarction' comes from the same root as 'stuffing' because early doctors noticed that blocked vessels looked like they were stuffed with clotted blood.
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