PREVENT CARDIAC ARREST
Sudden death is defined as any death occurring within one hour of the start of cardiac arrest symptoms. More than 95% of sudden deaths are cardiac in nature. Non-cardiac sudden death can occur due to major bleeding into brain, massive bleeding in the tummy cavity or chest like rupture of aorta (major blood vessel carrying blood from heart to various organs of body). It can also occur due to severe allergic reaction called anaphylactic reaction.
It usually occurs due to severe slowing of heart beat (bradycardia) or very fast heart beat (tachycardia). In both situations of
bradycardia and severe tachycardia the heart is not able to pump enough blood into the aorta and there is severe drop of blood pressure and all the organs especially brain and heart don’t get enough blood for their functioning, causing death. It also occurs when there is significant decrease in the pumping capacity of heart, technically called Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF). The chances of sudden cardiac death are many fold when LVEF drops below 35%. This drop of LVEF may be due to old heart attack or disease of heart muscle called cardiomyopathy.
Sudden death is due rhythm problems arising from the lower chambers of heart called ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. In ventricular tachycardia, usually there is some blood pressure, but in ventricular fibrillation blood pressure is practically Zero and is akin to cardiac arrest. In both ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, the most effective and reliable method to save a patient is to give electric shock on the chest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Minority of sudden cardiac deaths occur due to major heart attack causing again Ventricular Tachycardia or Ventricular fibrillation though the patient may be totally healthy prior to this attack. Very few sudden cardiac deaths occur in apparently healthy people who are prone to get ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation due to underlying electrical problems of heart like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and Brugada syndrome. These preventive actions can stop sudden cardiac death. Prevent damage occurring to heart muscle by avoiding coronary artery blockages by proper diet. Regular exercise, controlling cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, doing yoga and meditation. Immediate treatment of heart attack by angioplasty or clot dissolving drugs can prevent heart damage. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by the doctor is his own and the publication does not take any responsibility of the veracity or the claims made by the writer in this article.