Cardiac arrest

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Cardiac arrest is an emergency which will often respond to appropriate treatment if this is given within approximately five minutes, after which irreversible cerebral damage occurs. The recent development of the technique of closed-chest cardiac massage (sometimes described as external cardiac massage) together with mouth to mouth artificial respiration has greatly improved the prognosis of cardiac arrest. Hence doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and attendants should all receive instruction in this vitally important form of first aid. Cardiac arrest may be due to ventricular systole or ventricular fibrillation, but these two conditions can only be distinguished by electrocardiography or by direct inspection of the heart. The diagnosis is based on the absence of the pulse in the carotid or femoral artery on palpation and of the heart sounds on auscultation. The immediate objective of the treatment is to restore an oxygenated blood supply to the brain and to the heart muscle, and for this purpose the following actions should be taken immediately.