Difference between
heart attack and cardiac arrest.
How does one
explain it to police officers ?
I am attending a lecture cum demonstration on cardiac resuscitation
organized for police personnel of Bandra
area in Mumbai, India.
It is part of the I-care campaign by Holy Family hospital to
teach cardiac resuscuitation to the general public as well as early use of an
equipment (AED) to give shock and revive
a cardiac arrest victim.
As is usual, the talk also involved clarifying the
difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest.
Although the speaker did his best to explain the difference
between a heart attack and cardiac arrest, seeing the confused faces of the
people in audience, I intervened to tell them something in the language they would
understand.
I said, “a heart attack is like arresting someone with
handcuffs and taking him to jail”.
On the other hand a “cardiac arrest” is like shooting down a
criminal to death - sudden and instantaneous.
When a person is handcuffed, he is alive but there is damage
is to his reputation which increases as news spreads in time.
Similarly, in a heart
attack, although the heart continues to beat and the person is alive, there is
increasing damage to a portion the heart muscle due to a blocked coronary artery.
Carrying the analogy further, just as the damage to a
person’s reputation can be salvaged, the earlier he is released with as minimum
fan- fare as possible, the damage after a heart attack can be minimized, the
earlier we intervene with medicines and angioplasty (to remove the blockage in
coronary artery).
On the other hand, a cardiac arrest is instantaneous
stopping of heart pumping so that blood supply to brain stops. This is akin to
a criminal being shot down to instantaneous death.
Is there a relation
between a heart attack and cardiac arrest ?
Some heart attacks (20
to 30%), but not all, may lead to sudden
cardiac arrest.
Conversely, most cardiac arrests are due to coronary
blockages or heart attacks. In young individuals there are other causes such as in born defects of electrical system or muscles of the heart.
So, is the treatment
different for both ?
A heart attack victim with chest pain or breathlessness, but
alive, is best served by taking him to a hospital as fast as one can (nearest
is best). Opening the blocked artery as fast as possible is the aim. Minutes
count.
On the other hand, a cardiac arrest victim must be treated
then and there. Once you recognize someone has collapsed and is not responding
and not breathing, the first thing to do is to call for help (a cardiac
ambulance or a defibrillator or an AED-automated external defibrillator).
Having done that, and till this help arrives, one starts proper and effective
chest compressions (100/minute), 2 inches deep at the lower part of the breast
bone (sternum). Minimizing damage to the brain and reviving the heart is the
aim. Seconds count.
Experience in cities like Seattle has shown a survival rate
of 40 to 50 % when CPR is initiated by bystanders.
Did the explanation go well with the police officers?
The smiling faces said it all.
