The death of cardiac muscle tissue due to blockage of one or more coronary arteries is called a

• A. Heart attack
• B. Embolus
• C. Stroke
• D. Aneurysm

Answer: (A)

When a coronary artery becomes blocked, the heart muscle it supplies is starved of oxygen. If blood flow isn’t restored, the affected muscle tissue dies, a situation clinicians call a heart attack (myocardial infarction). This name directly describes the damage: death of heart muscle due to reduced blood supply from a blocked coronary artery.

An embolus is a traveling blockage that can lodge anywhere, not specifically the heart’s arteries, and a stroke refers to brain tissue death from blocked blood flow, not heart muscle. An aneurysm is a dilated, weakened vessel that can rupture, not the immediate death of heart tissue from coronary blockage.