Sudden Cardiac Arrest Causes and Precautions

Cardiac arrest is actually an unexpected loss of heart function, breathing, and unconsciousness. A sudden attack of the heart can be the result of disrupt pumping action, stopping blood flow to rest of the body. The sudden cardiac arrest is a medical emergency which should be addressed immediately. If it is not attendant on time it causes sudden cardiac death. With fast, appropriate medical care survival of the patient is possible.

Before the arrival of the medical emergency personnel administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), treating with a defibrillator or even just compression to the chest area may improve the chances of survival.

Symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest are:

• Sudden collapse
• No pulse
• No breathing
• Loss of consciousness

Sometimes other signs precede sudden cardiac arrest. These may be

• fatigue,
• fainting,
• blackout,
• dizziness,
• chest pain,
• shortness of breath,
• weakness,
• palpitation
• vomiting

Causes:

The immediate cause of the sudden heart attack is usually an abnormality in your heart rhythm (arrhythmia), the result of a problem with your heart’s electrical system. Unlike the body muscles which actually depend on the nerve connection to receive the electrical stimulation. But when it comes to heart it has its own electrical stimulator which is present in the right atrium. It generates the impulse that flow in a regular manner through the heart and pumps the blood to rest of the body.

If something goes wrong the flow of electric impulse through your heart, an arrhythmia can result as a result of the heart with either beat too fast or too slow or in some irregular function. Often this disruption in the rhythm of the heartbeat is temporary and undamaging. But some kind of arrhythmia can be serious and lead to a sudden stop in heart function.

Heart condition which causes cardiac arrest:

1. Coronary artery disease: it happens when arteries become blocked with cholesterol and other deposit reducing the blood flow to the heart.
2. Heart attack: heart attack due to the result of severe coronary artery disease.
3. Enlarged heart: primarily it occurs when your hearts muscular walls stretches and enlarges or thicken.
4. Valvular heart disease: leaking or narrowing of the heart valves can cause stretching or thickening of heart muscles or both.
5. Congenital heart disease: when certain cardiac occurs in children or adolescents it may be due to the reason that the heart condition was present at birth.
6. An electrical problem in the heart: these are mainly heart rhythm abnormalities and include conditions like Brugada’s syndrome and long QT syndrome.