Find information on thousands of medical conditions and prescription drugs.

Cardiac arrest

A cardiac arrest is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract effectively during systole. The resulting lack of blood supply results in cell death from oxygen starvation. Cerebral hypoxia, or lack of oxygen supply to the brain, causes victims to lose consciousness and stop breathing. more...

Home
Diseases
A
B
C
Angioedema
C syndrome
Cacophobia
Café au lait spot
Calcinosis cutis
Calculi
Campylobacter
Canavan leukodystrophy
Cancer
Candidiasis
Canga's bead symptom
Canine distemper
Carcinoid syndrome
Carcinoma, squamous cell
Carcinophobia
Cardiac arrest
Cardiofaciocutaneous...
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiophobia
Cardiospasm
Carnitine transporter...
Carnitine-acylcarnitine...
Caroli disease
Carotenemia
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpenter syndrome
Cartilage-hair hypoplasia
Castleman's disease
Cat-scratch disease
CATCH 22 syndrome
Causalgia
Cayler syndrome
CCHS
CDG syndrome
CDG syndrome type 1A
Celiac sprue
Cenani Lenz syndactylism
Ceramidase deficiency
Cerebellar ataxia
Cerebellar hypoplasia
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Cerebral aneurysm
Cerebral cavernous...
Cerebral gigantism
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral thrombosis
Ceroid lipofuscinois,...
Cervical cancer
Chagas disease
Chalazion
Chancroid
Charcot disease
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
CHARGE Association
Chediak-Higashi syndrome
Chemodectoma
Cherubism
Chickenpox
Chikungunya
Childhood disintegrative...
Chionophobia
Chlamydia
Chlamydia trachomatis
Cholangiocarcinoma
Cholecystitis
Cholelithiasis
Cholera
Cholestasis
Cholesterol pneumonia
Chondrocalcinosis
Chondrodystrophy
Chondromalacia
Chondrosarcoma
Chorea (disease)
Chorea acanthocytosis
Choriocarcinoma
Chorioretinitis
Choroid plexus cyst
Christmas disease
Chromhidrosis
Chromophobia
Chromosome 15q, partial...
Chromosome 15q, trisomy
Chromosome 22,...
Chronic fatigue immune...
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic granulomatous...
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic obstructive...
Chronic renal failure
Churg-Strauss syndrome
Ciguatera fish poisoning
Cinchonism
Citrullinemia
Cleft lip
Cleft palate
Climacophobia
Clinophobia
Cloacal exstrophy
Clubfoot
Cluster headache
Coccidioidomycosis
Cockayne's syndrome
Coffin-Lowry syndrome
Colitis
Color blindness
Colorado tick fever
Combined hyperlipidemia,...
Common cold
Common variable...
Compartment syndrome
Conductive hearing loss
Condyloma
Condyloma acuminatum
Cone dystrophy
Congenital adrenal...
Congenital afibrinogenemia
Congenital diaphragmatic...
Congenital erythropoietic...
Congenital facial diplegia
Congenital hypothyroidism
Congenital ichthyosis
Congenital syphilis
Congenital toxoplasmosis
Congestive heart disease
Conjunctivitis
Conn's syndrome
Constitutional growth delay
Conversion disorder
Coprophobia
Coproporhyria
Cor pulmonale
Cor triatriatum
Cornelia de Lange syndrome
Coronary heart disease
Cortical dysplasia
Corticobasal degeneration
Costello syndrome
Costochondritis
Cowpox
Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia
Craniofacial dysostosis
Craniostenosis
Craniosynostosis
CREST syndrome
Cretinism
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Cri du chat
Cri du chat
Crohn's disease
Croup
Crouzon syndrome
Crouzonodermoskeletal...
Crow-Fukase syndrome
Cryoglobulinemia
Cryophobia
Cryptococcosis
Crystallophobia
Cushing's syndrome
Cutaneous larva migrans
Cutis verticis gyrata
Cyclic neutropenia
Cyclic vomiting syndrome
Cystic fibrosis
Cystinosis
Cystinuria
Cytomegalovirus
Dilated cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Restrictive cardiomyopathy
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Medicines

Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency that, if left untreated, invariably leads to death within seconds to minutes. The primary first-aid treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (commonly known as CPR).

Etiology

Coronary heart disease (commonly known as coronary artery disease, or CAD) is the predominant disease process associated with sudden cardiac death in the United States. The incidence of CAD in individuals who suffer sudden cardiac death is between 64 and 90%. Other causes of cardiac arrest include electrocution and near-drowning, as well as other cardiac conditions such as the cardiomyopathies.

In children, cardiac arrest is typically caused by hypoxia from other causes such as near-drowning. With prompt treatment survival rates are high.

Every fatal injury or illness ultimately terminates in cardiac arrest, which is a natural part of the processes of death.

Treatable causes

There are 8 reversible causes of cardiac arrest, known as the "4Hs and 4Ts". They are looked for and treated by ambulance technicians/paramedics or by medical staff at the hospital while undertaking advanced life support, protocols for which will be used alongside any specific treatments for each of the causes. Lay rescuers performing basic life support can generally neither identify or treat them (with the exception of hypovolemia due to external bleeding), and so can offer only supportive treatment pending the arrival of emergency medical services.

4 Hs:-

  • Hypoxia - A lack of oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. This is treated by providing the patient with oxygen, either through a bag-valve-mask device, or by inserting an endotracheal tube (intubation)
  • Hypovolemia - A lack of circulating body fluids, principally blood. This is usually (though not exclusively) caused by some form of bleeding. Peri-arrest treatment includes giving IV Fluids and blood transfusions, and controlling the source of any bleeding - direct pressure for external bleeding, or emergency surgery (usually an immediate emergency thoracotamy on the ward, to clamp off the descending aorta and achieve haemostasis, the bleed is then repaired properly once the patient has regained circulation) for internal bleeding
  • Hypo/Hyper-metabolic disorders - An abnormally high or low level of electrolytes such as potassium and calcium circulating the body. An arterial blood gas and blood electrolyte test are performed to find the problem, then IV crystalloids are given to correct it.
  • Hypothermia - A low core body temperature, defined clinically as a temperature of less than 35 degrees celsius. The patient is re-warmed either by using a cardiac bypass or by irrigation of the body cavities (such as thorax, peritoneum, bladder) with warm fluids; or warmed IV fluids. CPR only is given until the core body temperature reached 30 degrees celsius, as defibrillation is ineffective at lower temperatures. Patients have been known to be successfully resuscitated after periods of hours in hypothermia and cardiac arrest, and this has given rise to the often quoted medical truism "You're not dead until you're warm and dead"


4 Ts:-

Read more at Wikipedia.org


[List your site here Free!]


AHA report on response to cardiac arrest
From American Family Physician, 2/1/05

The American Heart Association (AHA) has developed a medical emergency response plan for schools to reduce the incidence of life-threatening emergencies and maximize the chances of survival. The report, "Response to Cardiac Arrest and Selected Life-Threatening Medical Emergencies," is available online at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/109/2/278.

Life-threatening emergencies can occur in students and adults and can be the result of preexisting health problems, violence, unintentional injuries, natural disasters, and toxins. Each year, more than one third of schools may have an emergency that involves an adult and requires the activation of the emergency medical services system. Schools now have fewer nurses, and nurses often rotate between schools, leaving some schools without professional medical care for hours or days each week. The AHA and other professional organizations have recommended school emergency response plans to increase the potential of saving lives and make the most efficient use of school equipment and personnel.

The core elements of the plan include effective and efficient communication throughout the school campus; a coordinated and practiced response plan; risk reduction through safety precautions and identification of potential high-risk situations; training and equipment for first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and implementation of a lay rescuer automated external defibrillator program in schools that have an established need.

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

Return to Cardiac arrest
Home Contact Resources Exchange Links ebay