Although you may have heard the terms cardiac arrest and heart attack used interchangeably, they are two distinct situations with different symptoms and effects. The term heart attack refers to the muscle tissue in the heart being damaged by lack of blood flow. When a person experiences a heart attack, it is usually due to a blood clot in one of their heart's major arteries which drastically limits or stops the blood flow to the heart. Once the flow of blood is cut off from the muscle tissue in the heart, it will begin to die and cause severe chest pains.
Symptoms of Heart Attack:
Chest Pain
Pressure, heaviness or tightness in the chest
Pain or pressure in the neck or jaw
Shortness of Breath
Sweating
Pain or throbbing at or in-between the shoulder blades
The condition cardiac arrest refers to when the heart actually fails to pump blood to the bodies vital organs. In the case of cardiac arrest, the heart will either stop pumping blood adroitly, or vary in speed which would render it useless. A person experiencing cardiac arrest can die within four minutes if not immediately receiving efficient medical attention. There are three main causes for sudden cardiac arrest are ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and asystole.
Ventricular Fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation occurs when the heart muscle begins to quiver erratically, leading to a loss of blood flow through the heart.
Treatments for ventricular fibrillation include CPR and defibrillation
Ventricular Tachycardia
Ventricular tachycardia is a problem in which a recurring loop in the conduction pathways of the heart gives way to rapid contractions of the ventricles.
As a result, the victims blood pressure and overall blood flow will be greatly reduced due to the inability of the ventricles to fully fill with blood between contractions
Asystole
Asystole is the absolute standstill of the heart muscle
It is very important to recognize the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest. In the instance of a heart attack, immediately seek medical attention by calling 9-1-1 or getting to your local ER center. In a cardiac arrest situation, immediate action has to be taken to save the person's life in the form of an automatic external defibrillator (AED). The AED unit is a small, portable, and civilian friendly (easy to use) defibrillator that can be used in order to jump start a persons heart long enough for medical attention to arrive.
