Cardiac arrest in elderly

What is a Cardiac Arrest

A cardiac arrest happens when your heart stops pumping blood around the body

The most common cause of a cardiac arrest is a life- threatening abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation

Ventricular fibrillation occurs when the electrical activity of the heart becomes so chaotic that the heart stops pumping and quivers, or ‘fibrillates’, instead

This is a cardiac arrest. It can sometimes be corrected by giving an electric shock through the chest wall, using a device called a defibrillator

Other reasons why people might have a cardiac arrest are:

if you lose a large amount of blood or fluid

lack of oxygen

your body being very hot or very cold

a blood clot in the lung or coronary arteries

A cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack. 

A heart attack usually happens because you have coronary heart disease. If you have a heart attack, you do not always experience the life threatening rhythms that can lead to a cardiac arrest

A cardiac arrest does not always happen because you have a heart condition

If you have a cardiac arrest, you lose consciousness almost at once

There are also no other signs of life such as breathing or movement

This is an emergency and if you witness a cardiac arrest, you should call 999 immediately.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

Unless someone starts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the person may suffer permanent damage to the brain and other organs

CPR means:

chest compression (pumping the heart by external cardiac massage), to keep the circulation going until the ambulance arrives

and

rescue breathing (inflating the lungs by using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation)

See www.nhs.uk for more details on how to administer CPR

Ambulance staff are trained in advanced resuscitation and all emergency ambulances carry a defibrillator

If you think you are having a heart attack, don’t delay calling 999, just because you think it can’t happen to you, or you don’t want to cause a fuss

www.bhf.org.uk