Comment by JumpCrisscross
2 days ago
> bacteria in arterial plaques can cause them to break up and cause the attack
“Dormant bacteria within the biofilm remain[ing] shielded from both the patient’s immune system and antibiotics because they cannot penetrate the biofilm matrix” whose rupture “result[s] in thrombus formation and ultimately myocardial infarction” sounds like infection more than careless bacteria kicking up muck.
Not all infarctions are due to infectious disease. The title (even on HN) is incorrect.
"Some myocardial infarctions attributed to an infectious disease."
"A myocardial infarction may be due to infectious disease."
My maternal grandfather died of an aortic separation. This caused a myocradial infarction, which was not due to infectious disease. I had my aortic valve replaced with a mechanical when I was 2, and 9, and 31, so I'll have a more nuanced kind of heart failure.
Arnold Schwatzenegger also has a congenital history, a few heart surgeries..
Gaining a ton of body mass working out thickens the heart. It's necessary to push the blood into veins that get constricted, more and more with increased weight. In the epilogue, as you get older, optimal function fades. The thickened tissue isn't as elastic, compounding cardiac problems and sometimes causing infarction (also, not infectious related). Ironically, a thickened heart gives you better odds at surviving surgery, due to the excess tissue and the minimal effect of scarring already-rigid tissue.
Some people see heart walls thinning at a very ripe age (90s+) but for most early heart patients, they don't make it that far.