Cardiac tissue damage

Cardiac tissue damage refers to injury or destruction of cardiac muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) and supporting tissue, commonly as a result of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), ischemia-reperfusion, chronic ischemic disease, toxins, infections, or other insults. The process involves cell death (necrosis and/or apoptosis), inflammation, fibrosis, and impaired contractility, leading to arrhythmias, heart failure, or sudden cardiac death if severe. Cardiac tissue damage is a central feature of many cardiovascular diseases; it is not a single molecular entity but rather the pathological outcome of multiple mechanisms and pathways, including oxidative stress, impaired calcium signaling, mitochondrial dysfunction, neurohormonal activation (such as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system), and maladaptive remodeling responses. As such, it represents a therapeutic challenge and a critical endpoint for drug-development and diagnostic strategies but does not represent a classic targetable biomolecule.

Other names

Myocardial injuryMyocardial tissue damageCardiac injury