Heart Attack vs Cardiac Arrest

OP, everyone dies of cardiac arrest. Sorry. Cardiac arrest simply means the heart has stopped, or is in an unproductive rhythm (Ventricular Tachycardia, Ventricular Fibrillation, Pulseless Electrical Activity, Asystole, etc)
In a "Heart Attack", initially, the heart is functioning normally, but as the blockage of blood supply to the muscle itself intensifies, if untreated, the muscle malfunctions, causing the unproductive rhythm, and leading to unresponsiveness and eventually asystole (cardiac arrest).

Just trying to keep things simple for our (untrained) OP.
 
Sasha said:
A heart attack is your heart going "AAAHHH CRAP IM NOT GETTING BLOOD FLOW AND THEREFORE OXYGEN"

Cardiac arrest is you're heart going "Eff this i'm done, peace out homies!"
Click to expand...

Win. Taken straight outta the text book!
 
OP, another take.

"Heart attack" is for lay persons. We use "chest pain" (a subjective complaint) in the absence of vital signs or EKG.

An infarction is explained above and diagnosed with EKG. Other than the administrtion of aspirin per local protocols, that is not of use to basic field people. It is to advanced life support types.

As a basic, you are going to have conscious people with c/o chest pain and with a pulse; unconsicous people with a pulse; unconscious people with no pulse.

A regular pulse with adequate BP (conscious or not) suggests but does not rule out an infarction. (There are also transient heart pains which can herald a likelihood of infarct in the near future).

An irregular pulse in a conscious or unconscious patient can mean longstanding or acute trouble. When coupled with chest pain, syncope, etc.,act calmly and reassuringly and get on with the likelihood of an issue needing the full meal deal, including ASA (since irregular heart activity can cause clotting which can lead to MI or CVA).

Absence of palpable pulse can mean the heart has stopped, or it is pumping so ineffectively that you can't feel it. Either way, anoxia is whittling away at the pt and you need to start CPR, get EMS going, get an AED on the pt. The AED may say "Shock not advised, continue CPR"; do it.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
OOOPS, correction to above.

INstead of:
"A regular pulse with adequate BP (conscious or not) suggests but does not rule out an infarction", read the following:

" A regular pulse with adequate BP (conscious or not) does not rule out an infarction, but suggests some other cause".
 
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