Severe non-cardiac stressors: This includes a massive pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs), extensive blood loss, drug overdose, and metabolic derangements.The most common disorders include Long QT syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and Brugada syndrome, though these are just a few examples among a vast spectrum of complex electrophysiological disorders. Underlying conduction defects: This means there is something fundamentally abnormal about the way electricity flows through a person's heart and can even occur in otherwise healthy individuals.Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, an inherited disease which causes heart tissue to become massively overgrown, is the classic cause of SCA in otherwise healthy young athletes. Structural heart abnormalities: Damaged valves or malformations of the heart muscle are a particularly common cause of SCA in individuals under 30 years old.Once blood flow to the heart muscle is interrupted, tissue death can lead to severe disruptions of the electrical pathways within minutes. While they can occur suddenly, most heart attacks are preceded by many years of coronary artery narrowing known as atherosclerosis. A heart attack results from impaired blood flow to the heart muscle itself, usually as a result of a blocked coronary artery. Heart attack: This is the single most common trigger for SCA.Underlying cause and triggers that can lead to SCA include the following. However, the umbrella term SCA encompasses various types of electrical dysfunction, and each type can have a variety of underlying causes. With rare exceptions, SCA is caused by dysfunction of the heart's conduction system. alone, conservative estimates attribute more than 350,000 deaths each year to SCD. The term "sudden cardiac death" (SCD) is often used for those events which prove fatal. If blood flow is not restored, death typically occurs within minutes. This, in turn, prevents blood from reaching vital organs such as the brain, making SCA an extremely dangerous and serious event. Disruptions of the heart's rhythm system, collectively known as arrhythmias, prevent the heart from beating correctly. If you've ever seen a movie or TV character clutch their chest and fall to the floor, chances are they're portraying a heart attack triggering SCA. Cessation of breathing: This is not a universal feature but can occur when the muscular function or neurological control of breathing is sufficiently impaired.Pulselessness: This is a defining feature of all cardiac arrest since without a heartbeat no blood flow can be felt at pulse points such as the neck or wrist.Lightheadedness or dizziness: This may precede the loss of consciousness depending on how rapidly the arrest progresses.Loss of consciousness: Also known as fainting or syncope, this results mainly from insufficient blood flow to the brain.The symptoms universally seen in all SCA are consequences of impaired blood flow, including the following. If an abnormally fast heart rate (known as a tachyarrhythmia) triggers SCA, symptoms may include the feeling of a pounding or racing heartbeat, also known as palpitations. Nausea and profound sweating are also common. For example, a heart attack that triggers SCA will likely cause chest pain and shortness of breath. However, this depends on the specific cause of the arrest. Hurry!Īs the name would imply, most people who experience SCA have almost no preceding symptoms. You should go to the ER immediately since the longer the heart goes without blood, the worse the irreversible damage will be. Other methods will involve medications, implantable devices, and careful monitoring. Treatment plans include a variety of measures to restore heart function as well as pulse and consciousness via emergent defibrillation. Symptoms include a loss of consciousness, lightheadedness or dizziness, pulselessness, and a lack of breathing. The common feature of almost all causes of SCA is a problem with the heart's electrical conduction system, which is usually responsible for maintaining the organized, coordinated rhythm that ensures all parts of the heart muscle beat properly. While heart attacks are a common cause of SCA, in real life they are just one of many etiologies. In media portrayals, SCA classically occurs after a heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs when the heart abruptly stops beating.
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