What does infarct mean?
An infarct is a localized area of tissue that has died because its blood supply was interrupted, usually by a blocked or severely narrowed blood vessel. As a noun, it refers to the damaged tissue itself; as a verb, it describes the process of tissue undergoing this damage. Infarcts can occur in organs including the brain, heart, kidneys, and limbs, and the term is particularly common in neurology and cardiology. The expression cerebral infarct, for example, is commonly used for an area of brain tissue damaged by impaired blood flow. Although infarct may be explained informally as a heart attack, the technical term is broader: infarction can affect many organs, and not every infarction is clinically described as a heart attack. In medical writing, the distinction between the lesion and the process is important, since an infarct is the resulting area of tissue death, while infarction can refer more broadly to the condition.
A localized area of tissue that has died as a result of interrupted or severely reduced blood supply.
"The patient suffered a small infarct in the left side of the brain."
The plural infarcts is grammatically regular but is less common in clinical prose than singular constructions referring to a particular lesion.
To cause tissue to die from interrupted blood supply, or to undergo this process.
"The blockage infarcted the brain tissue downstream from the affected artery."
Used chiefly in medical and scientific contexts.
The regular plural is used when referring to multiple discrete areas of infarcted tissue.
"The scan identified several small infarcts in both cerebral hemispheres."
An infarct is tissue that has effectively been switched off because its blood supply was cut off.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does infarct come from?
The word comes through medical Latin from Latin infarctus, meaning “stuffed into” or “plugged,” a past participle formed from infarcire. The underlying root, farcire, meant to fill or stuff, and the medical application developed from the idea of an obstruction plugging a blood vessel or its surrounding tissue. Related forms in languages such as French, Italian, and Spanish developed from the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How infarct is actually used
This is chiefly medical terminology. In formal clinical usage, an infarct usually denotes the resulting area of tissue damage, while infarction may denote the process itself or the broader condition. The verb is less common in general prose and is especially frequent in technical descriptions of disease mechanisms.