What is the difference of cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest?

Answer 1

Is There a Difference Between a Sudden Cardiac Arrest and a Heart Attack?

• A heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest are not the same thing.
• A heart attack is technically known as myocardial infarction, although a person suffering a heart attack certainly has an increased risk of a sudden cardiac arrest.
• The term cardiac arrest is also used to describe the sudden loss of function of the heart, as result of an abrupt disturbance in the heart's rhythm. It can occur in a person with or without Heart disease. The basic difference is summarized below:

Who can be affected by Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

• People often ask who can be affected by sudden cardiac arrest, anticipating it is the fate of the elderly. Although the frequency and risk of SCA certainly increases with age it can occur without warning or symptoms to anyone, even teenagers.
• According to the Australian Resuscitation Council an estimated 30,000 people a year suffer sudden cardiac arrest. Although pre-existing heart disease is a common cause for cardiac arrest, many victims never previously exhibit heart problems.
• The survival rate for SCA without immediate treatment is low in the vicinity of 5 to 10 %, whereas survival rates well above 50% have been achieved following successful implementation of CPR and defibrillation, the shorter the time span of treatment the higher the survival rate.

Is it possible to reverse the effect of sudden cardiac arrest? Yes, it is entirely possible to reverse the effect of a sudden cardiac arrest, particularly if the unconscious victim receives immediate aid by restoring the circulation with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and delivery of defibrillation to restore the normal heart rhythm. If these life saving measures are delayed the prospect of a complete recovery diminishes.

HEART ATTACK

Cause: An occlusion or blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the heart - typically the coronary artery. Once the artery is blocked the heart muscle dies as a result of oxygen deprivation, resulting in a heart attack

Warning Signs: Chest and arm pain, upper abdomen and jaw pain also common, sweating, weakness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting are all common symptoms

Patient Response: Usually remains conscious and alert, usually distressed and anxious.

Survival Prospects: Generally good, with appropriate treatment

SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST

Cause: An abnormal or irregular heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmias) occurs. Instead of the heart beating in a coordinated fashion, the ventricles (lower chambers) quiver or wobble - a process known as ventricular fibrillation, resulting in a cardiac arrest

Warning Signs: Sudden collapse, usually no detectable pulse

Patient Response: Unconscious and totally unresponsive, usually no pulse, and not breathing

Survival Prospects: Generally poor 90+% will die unless CPR and defibrillation is administered within 10 minutes of collapse. Some people simply don't respond to treatment because of underlying medical conditions

Answer 2

An Angina is when you have extreme chest pain it is related to a probable heart attack. and a heart attack is when the heart looses its ability to circulate blood because of blocked artery or vein.

Answer 3

Stroke:

A stroke (sometimes called an acute cerebrovascular attack) is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia, means lack of glucose and oxygen supply caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or inability to see one side of the visual field.

Cardiac Arrest

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart abruptly stops functioning due to a sudden heart arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation, or VF. VF is usually seen in people who have coronary artery disease or other underlying heart conditions. Since the stopped heart cannot provide oxygen to the rest of the body, death can occur within minutes.

Signs of cardiac arrest are sudden and unmistakable. They include:

Failure to respond to stimuli, such as shaking of shoulders or calling of name

No normal breathing for at least five seconds.

Answer 4

Both are painful but if one is having a heart attack they should be hospitalized immediately since a heart attack is a physical malfunction of the heart that is life threatening whereas a broken heart is more of a mental malady caused by disappointment in love. For this there is no immediate remedy. Only time will mend a broken heart.

Answer 5

Heart attack refers to damage to the muscle of the heart, usually from a lack of blood flow. Most of the time, a blood clot forms in one of the arteries that supplies the heart muscle with blood, blocking the flow of blood. As the heart muscle starves, it begins to die, causing chest pain and other heart attack symptoms.

A stroke is a similar blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. When a clot forms in one of those arteries and stops blood flow, a section of the brain begins to die. Stroke symptoms often don't include any pain or discomfort, and are more likely associated with losing feeling or the ability to move. Much of the time, strokes affect only one side of the body.

These two terms are so often misunderstood that some in the medical community are attempting to do away with stroke and replace it with the term brain attack.Personally, I doubt it will change. (Besides how difficult it is to do away with a widely accepted medical term, "brain attack" just sounds like the title of a really bad movie.)

Answer 6

They are the same thing. The only cardiac arrhythmia is asystole or no electrical activity in the heart. Cardiac arrest is the sudden cessation of the hearts functions.

Answer 7

Myocardial infarction is a heart attack. Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops.