Know All About Sudden Cardiac Arrest Even In Seemingly Fit People.

Know All About Sudden Cardiac Arrest Even In Seemingly Fit People.

The sudden cessation of heart function, respiration, and awareness is known as sudden cardiac arrest. An issue with your heart’s electrical system causes the disorder, which affects your heart’s pumping action and stops blood flow to your body.

A heart attack, in which blood flow to a portion of the heart is interrupted, is not the same as sudden cardiac arrest. A heart attack, on the other hand, can sometimes cause an electrical disruption that results in rapid cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest can be fatal if not addressed quickly. With prompt and appropriate medical attention, survival is possible. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the use of a defibrillator, or even simple chest compressions can increase the chances of survival until help arrives.

According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, a heart attack is caused by a malfunction in the heart’s circulation, or “plumbing.” When a coronary artery is suddenly blocked, the blood supply to the heart is substantially reduced or cut off, causing heart muscle damage.

A sudden cardiac arrest, on the other hand, is caused by an “electrical” issue in the heart. It occurs when the electrical signals that control the heart’s ability to pump short-circuit. The heart may suddenly beat too quickly, causing the ventricles — the heart’s primary pumping chambers — to tremble or flutter instead of pumping blood in a coordinated manner. Ventricular fibrillation is a rhythm issue that “occurs in reaction to an underlying heart ailment that may or may not has been discovered,”

Sudden Cardiac Arrest: What Is It?

You might think of “heart attack” when you hear of a young person passing away. However, abrupt cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac death) is a different story.

Ventricular fibrillation stops blood flow to the rest of the body by interrupting the heart’s pumping function. A person suffering from sudden cardiac arrest will lose consciousness and have no pulse or breathe.

The person normally dies within minutes without quick CPR or a shock from an automatic defibrillator, which is why it’s dubbed “sudden cardiac death.”

However, there is a link between a heart attack and sudden cardiac death. An electrical error caused by a heart attack might result in sudden cardiac arrest.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Causes

You’re undoubtedly aware that heart disease can be caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other issues in older individuals. However, you may be unaware of the rare heart conditions that can result in abrupt cardiac arrest in young individuals.

Lawless explains that “the underlying conditions in young people are considerably different from the underlying problems in someone who is 50 or 60 years old.” “We’re looking for genetic disorders of the myocardial [muscle tissue of the heart], the electrical system, and, of course, congenital [heart] diseases in younger people.”

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition characterised by abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, is the leading cause. “They have a thick heart,” Lawless explains. “With exertion, the inner layers of the heart may not obtain enough blood supply.”

But keep in mind that HCM is a rare condition. Only 0.05 percent to 0.2 percent of the population is thought to be affected.

Another risk factor for sudden cardiac arrest is congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries. The arteries may be misaligned, or a person may be born with only one coronary artery instead of the typical two, as in the instance of basketball player Pete Maravich.

Other disorders that can cause abrupt cardiac arrest include long QT syndrome, an inherited electrical ailment of the heart; acute myocarditis, an inflammatory heart illness; and Marfan syndrome, which caused Flo Hyman’s cardiac arrest.

Marfan syndrome is a connective tissue genetic condition with potentially catastrophic cardiovascular consequences. Marfan syndrome patients “tend to be tall and lanky,” according to Lawless. They are susceptible to blood vessel tears (such as the aorta). Sudden spikes in blood pressure, such as those experienced during intense athletic exertion, enhance the risk.

Some athletes die when they are stuck in the chest, a condition is known as commotio cordis.

“When the heart is assaulted during the vulnerable part of the cardiac cycle, it goes into this awful rhythm called ventricular fibrillation,” Lawless explains. According to her, the chances of this happening are extremely remote because the vulnerable time window is so narrow. “Within forty-thousandths of a second, it has to happen.”

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