What is cardiac arrest?

Question

How a person go into cardiac arrest and what is the reason of it .Is it possible that any one gets life after cardiac arrest?

Answer 1

Although brief but it can give you an insight view :
Cardiac arrest: A medical emergency with absent or inadequate contraction of the left ventricle of the heart that immediately causes bodywide circulatory failure. The signs and symptoms include loss of consciousness; rapid shallow breathing progressing to apnea (absence of breathing); profoundly low blood pressure (hypotension) with no pulses that can be felt over major arteries; and no heart sounds.

Cardiac arrest is one of the greatest of all medical emergencies. Within several minutes, there is lack of oxygen (tissue hypoxia), leading to multiple organ injury. Unless cardiac arrest is quickly corrected, it is fatal.

The most common causes of cardiac arrest are electrical problems in the heart with ventricular fibrillation representing the major type. In ventricular fibrillation, there is loss of coordinated ventricular contractions leading to immediate loss of effective output of blood by the heart, resulting in circulatory arrest.

Answer 2

Sudden cardiac arrest is not a heart attack (myocardial infarction). Heart attacks occur when there is a blockage in one or more of the arteries to the heart, preventing the heart from receiving enough oxygen-rich blood. If the oxygen in the blood cannot reach the heart muscle, the heart becomes damaged.

In contrast, sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the electrical system to the heart malfunctions and suddenly becomes very irregular. The heart beats dangerously fast. The ventricles may flutter or quiver (ventricular fibrillation), and blood is not delivered to the body. In the first few minutes, the greatest concern is that blood flow to the brain will be reduced so drastically that a person will lose consciousness. Death follows unless emergency treatment is begun immediately.

Emergency treatment includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation. CPR is a manual technique using repetitive pressing to the chest and breathing into the person's airways that keeps enough oxygen and blood flowing to the brain until the normal heart rhythm is restored with an electric shock to the chest, a procedure called defibrillation. Emergency squads use portable defibrillators and frequently there are public access defibrillators (AEDs, ambulatory external defibrillators) in public locations that are intended to be available for use by citizens who observe cardiac arrest.

Yes it is possible that people survive a cardiac arrest, but it also depends on how quickly the person received CPR, defibrillation, medications such as epinephrine, etc. I use to work in a emergency room on the code team. Some survived, some did not, and some only survived a short time after being brought out of the cardiac arrest. It just depends on how quickly treatment is begun or how long the person has been in arrest or how long they have been "flat lined".

Click this link if you would like more info:
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/sudden-cardiac-death

Answer 3

Cardiac arrest refers to a sudden, profound disturbance in the heart’s rhythm that causes the heart to stop beating completely or slow to the point where the life is unsustainable. Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. A heart attack, while potentially life threatening, usually offers a short period of time in which treatment can save the person’s life.

During cardiac arrest a victim loses consciousness, stops normal breathing and loses pulse and blood pressure.

There are many possible causes of cardiac arrest. They include coronary heart disease, heart attack, electrocution, drowning, or choking. There may not be a known cause to the cardiac arrest.

Without medical attention, the person will die within a few minutes. People are less likely to die if they have early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation. Defibrillation is delivering an electric shock to restore the heart rhythm to normal. CPR must be continued until the person recovers or is pronounced dead. Breathing and heart beat have to be restored in humans after as long as 3 hours of resuscitation.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Cardiac Arrest means the heart has stopped.

Answer 5

Cardiac arrest is when your heart stops beating. I went into cardiac arrest once and was revived. I was diagnosed with a heart condition and now I live a full life under the care of my cardiologist.

Answer 6

A cardiac arrest is when your heart stops beating.

It can occur for many reasons. The most common is Myocardial Ischaemia. This is when the heart is starved of oxygen due to a blockage in one of its arteries and is also known as a heart attack.

There are many other causes of a cardiac arrest.
(1) Hypoxia - lack of oxygen throughout the body which is normally secondary to lung disease.
(2) Hypovolaemia - lack of blood or fluid within the body
(3) Hypothermia - severe cold
(4) Hypo/Hyperkalaemia/Metabolic- alteration in the body's salts causing the heart to stop contracting
(5) Tension Pneumothorax - air get between your ribcage and lungs, causing them to collapse along with your heart.
(6) Cardiac Tamponade - blood collects around your heart causing it to collapse.
(7) Toxins - drugs, poison ect.
(8) Thrombus - clot in lung. Also called a pulmonary embolus.

These are refered to as the 4 Hs and 4 Ts in the medical profession.

It is possible to survive a cardiac arrest, but those who do survive are the lucky few. To survive a bystander would need to maintain an oxygenated blood supply to the heart and lungs by basic life support until help arrives. Out of hospital survival rates depend on where you live. In the UK it is very poor as very few people know basic life support.

Answer 7

I am of the opinion that Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops due to a failure in its electrical system because of any reason.
Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency which is synonymous with clinical death. It is potentially reversible only if the patient receives immediate medical aid.
Most people mistakenly use heart attack to describe a cardiac arrest. While a heart attack may cause cardiac arrest and sudden death, the terms don’t mean the same thing.

However I recommend that you explore the possibility of finding a more detailed explanation at

http:/blog.shahidmerchant.com

Answer 8

A cardiac arrest, also known as cardiorespiratory arrest, cardiopulmonary arrest or circulatory arrest, is the abrupt cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively during systole.
Please see the web pages for more details on Cardiac arrest.

Answer 9

cardiac arrest has different names a.ka. full arrest/code,
in cardiac arrest your heart isnt beating properly and you will die unless you recieve RAPID treathment. after about 4 min. you will have suffered permenant brain damage. sudden cardiac arrest ( SCA) kills about 350,000 ppl a year, the leading cause of death in the US. in order to survive a arrest you need 4 things. and you need them EXTREMELY fast.
1. early detection ( immediately calling 911)
2. early CPR
3. early AED
4. early EMS care
I suggest go to the American Heart Association and take a CPR/AED class.
AED is a "big" word for automated external defibrillator, you know when the doc yells "CLEAR!", think of it as a "jump start cable" (just like the ones for your car), each min. that goes past the chance of survival decrease by 10% so rapid defibrillation is crucial. the survival rate for codes are less than 5% because an AED never reaches the person in time. I have a heartstart OnSite AED in our house just in case. you can buy home AEDs but they are expensive )$1250+, try www.americanaed.com if your interested.
Early EMS is important so they can send the pt to an appropriate facility for transport.
remember if you buy an AED it doesnt mean it will 100% save the persons life, but it will make the chances for survial EXTREMELY likely. hope this helps. send me an email if you need more info. =]

Answer 10

cardiac arrest is not a heart attack it is when the heart starts beating so fasts that it stops.i had 2 cardiac arrests on 1-16-06 witch required a triple bypass and left me with an ejection fraction of 45 witch is still pretty good but the wiring so to speak in my heart is messed up picture your heart like an 8 cylinder engine and mine is running on only 4 on the right side of my heart and it makes me have double beats because its like a miss fire