How does having a heart attack affect someone who has aortic stenosis?
If you have CAD, damage to the hard plaque in one of your coronary arteries can cause a blood clot to form that can block the flow of blood through the artery. This blockage can starve your heart muscle of oxygen and cause permanent damage, commonly called a heart attack. If that damage occurs in the muscle of your left ventricle, it can significantly impair your ventricle’s ability to compensate for aortic stenosis and can speed the onset of heart failure and permanent damage. If someone who has severe aortic stenosis experiences a heart attack that causes significant damage to the heart muscle, valve replacement surgery may not completely restore the heart’s function. Damage to the muscle from the heart attack also can increase the risk of valve surgery.
