Heart attack or myocardial infarction is one of the complications of heart diseases or coronary blockages. These blockages grow slowly over the years in people who have problems like high cholesterol, triglycerides, high blood pressure, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle and high-fat food. Stresses of modern day living also add up tremendously to increment of blockages. After 50% of the heart tubes (coronary arteries) are closed by these blockages, the membrane guarding the fatty deposits becomes vulnerable to sudden rupture. This rupture leads to a clot formation which closes the tube completely. This immediately leads to heart attack.

Most of these heart attacks are preventable - the community of the cardiologists and the patients willing. The patients or even the common public must know that this is possible only when the reasons for increasing blockages are withdrawn. The aim of this book is to create this awareness.

One third of the deaths in the world are due to cardio-vascular reasons heart attack being responsible for majority of these deaths. India has one of the highest number of heart patients in the world. Deaths due to heart attack have not only become very common these days but also there is an increasing incidence of heart attacks at younger age. I have treated heart patients even of the age of 22, 25 and 25 years. Others have reported heart attacks as early/young as 20 years.

This small book is devoted to heart attack and its prevention. We have established a forum called "Heart Attack Prevention Forum" for making general public aware about the ways of preventing and avoiding heart attacks. In the next one year we plan to bring out more literature, films and books on the subject.

Unfortunately, prevention of heart attacks is not on the important agenda of the present day heart institutes. Most of them are happy admitting heart patients after they have suffered a heart attack. For them the treatment starts only after patient suffers heart attack.