Cardiology

After 47 minutes, one final try resuscitated her

On a November evening, Diana and Paul Nickel played a spelling game and shared an ice cream birthday cake with their 6-year-old granddaughter, Molly. The couple was staying with Molly and her 8-year-old sister, Kate, while ...

Cardiology

The wrong first step to revive athletes in cardiac arrest

About three million people have viewed the YouTube video of the death of American collegiate basketball player Hank Gathers from cardiac arrest during a game in 1990. The sequence of the events clearly shows the that for ...

Cardiology

After saving her husband with CPR, she gave birth to their son

Nearly ready to deliver her first child, Ashley Goette woke up at 5 a.m. to go to the bathroom and nudged her husband, who seemed to be snoring. Andrew made a scary, gargling sound, so Ashley ran to get his asthma inhaler.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Recalled experiences surrounding death: More than hallucinations?

Scientific advances in the 20th and 21st centuries have led to a major evolution in the understanding of death. At the same time, for decades, people who have survived an encounter with death have recalled unexplained lucid ...

Cardiology

What is cardiac arrest? A heart expert explains

Cardiac arrest (or sudden cardiac arrest as it is more formally known) is a medical emergency. It happens when an event, usually an electrical disturbance, quickly and unexpectedly causes your heart to stop working. It's ...

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Cardiac arrest

A cardiac arrest, also known as 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.

A cardiac arrest is different from (but may be caused by) a heart attack or myocardial infarction, where blood flow to the still-beating heart is interrupted (as in cardiogenic shock).

"Arrested" blood circulation prevents delivery of oxygen to all parts of the body. Cerebral hypoxia, or lack of oxygen supply to the brain, causes victims to lose consciousness and to stop normal breathing, although agonal breathing may still occur. Brain injury is likely if cardiac arrest is untreated for more than five minutes, although new treatments such as induced hypothermia have begun to extend this time. To improve survival and neurological recovery immediate response is paramount.

Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency that, in certain groups of patients, is potentially reversible if treated early enough (See "reversible causes" below). When unexpected cardiac arrest leads to death this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). The primary first-aid treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (commonly known as CPR) which provides circulatory support until availability of definitive medical treatment, which will vary dependent on the rhythm the heart is exhibiting, but often requires defibrillation.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA