Cardiac Vascular Nursing Certification Practice Exam 2026 - Free Cardiac Vascular Nursing Practice Questions and Study Guide

When damage goes through the entire thickness of the heart muscle, it is classified as an infarct, specifically a transmural infarct. Infarction means death of tissue due to prolonged lack of blood flow (ischemia) that becomes irreversible. Ischemia, by contrast, refers to reduced blood supply that can cause reversible changes and symptoms like chest pain without necessarily causing cell death. Injury denotes reversible cellular damage from hypoxia that does not involve full-thickness necrosis. So full-thickness myocardial damage is best described as an infarct.