What's the difference between sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack?
It’s easy to confuse sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack. They sound alike and are both considered a medical emergency. Knowing the difference between these two health events, however, could be a matter of life and death.
“Knowing the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest means knowing how to respond,” said Demetri Yannopoulos, MD, a cardiologist with M Health Fairview and director of resuscitation medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School.
So, what is the difference?
Causes:
A heart attack occurs when one of the arteries supplying blood to the heart becomes blocked – often by plaque buildup. This reduces the amount of blood flow and oxygen the heart receives and can damage the heart.
Heart attacks are a leading cause of death for Americans. There are roughly 800,000 heart attacks reported annually nationwide. But they are not necessarily fatal. According to Yannopoulos, the mortality rate is between 3-5% when treated properly.
Sudden cardiac arrest – also known as cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death – has several causes. Cardiac arrest means the heart completely stops. The body is suddenly cut off from blood and oxygen flow, which can quickly lead to death.
Cardiac arrest can be caused due to mechanical issues or an electrical disturbance that interrupts the heart’s movement. Blocked arteries, and heart attacks, are a common cause cardiac arrest. Other common causes include congenital heart defects, drug or alcohol poisoning, or other damage to the heart muscle.
Symptoms:
The most common symptoms of a heart attack are shortness of breath and pain in the chest, neck, jaw, or back. However, there are a range of symptoms that also vary between men and women – with women more likely to have rarer symptoms.
People at moderate risk of heart disease should take additional preventive measures, like a coronary calcium scan, which lets doctors evaluate the level of plaque buildup in the blood vessels around a person’s heart.
When someone has a heart attack, they may have time to recognize what’s happening and call 911. People with sudden cardiac arrest often collapse without warning. They immediately lose consciousness and stop breathing.
Cardiac arrests are much rarer than heart attacks, but they are much deadlier. There are half as many – roughly 400,000 – reported each year in the U.S. However, Yannopoulos says that roughly 90% of cardiac arrest patients die if not treated immediately.
Response:
It’s important to know the difference between cardiac arrest and a heart attack so that you know how to react, said Yannopoulos. In both cases, every minute counts for survival.
An immediate response is critical for people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. If it isn’t recognized right away, it can lead to death within a few minutes.
“If someone suddenly collapses from cardiac arrest, the people around them need to call 911 and immediately begin chest compressions,” said Yannopoulos.
Chest compressions – pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest – are the best immediate course of action while waiting for emergency responders. They are one important component of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), along with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is helpful, but some people are unfamiliar with the technique and may feel reluctant to use it, which could stand in the way of a quick response.
“Cardiac arrest is the most time-sensitive emergency in modern medicine,” said Yannopoulos. “Chances of a patient dying increase 10% for each minute it’s left untreated by CPR. Even when CPR is performed, the survival rate after 30 minutes is close to zero if more advanced therapies aren’t started.”
People suffering from a heart attack need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. The best course of action is to call 911 if you’re experiencing signs of a heart attack so that first responders can begin treatment as soon as possible.
Treatment:
Once emergency responders arrive, it’s important to quickly transport cardiac arrest patients to an expert like Yannopoulos. He can act quickly if the patient is not responding to defibrillation – the use of electrical stimulation to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.
Yannopoulos created a new treatment process at M Health Fairview that calls for patients who do not respond to defibrillation to be transported by ambulance to the cardiac catheterization lab at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center.
On the way there, the person receives continual CPR from a device in the ambulance. At the medical center, the person is connected to a life support system – giving Yannopoulos and his colleagues time to identify and fix the issue causing cardiac arrest.
Yannopoulos also helped launch a mobile resuscitation program as part of the Center for Resuscitation Medicine. The program includes emergency vehicles equipped with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines. This life support device pumps oxygen-rich blood through a person’s body – meaning these vehicles can act as a critical bridge between home and the hospital, getting patients advanced care as quickly as possible.
Heart attack treatment varies by patient. Its goal is to restore complete blood flow to the heart. This often includes medication to break up clots and improve flow, nonsurgical procedures to open the arteries, or surgery.
Quick action is critical for heart attack patients as well.
If the person’s heart has completely stopped due to blockage, emergency medical staff will provide resuscitation treatment like that for cardiac arrest patients. No matter the emergency, people need to take both heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest seriously and seek help immediately.
