Following the death of the veteran actress, Sridevi, of sudden cardiac arrest, many people are left with confusion and anxiety over the cause of it. Lack of proper knowledge has left many people in shock over the suddenness of it. Dr K K Aggarwal, Padma Shri awardee, President Heart Care Foundation of India and Immediate Past National President IMA, tells us exactly what to do during a sudden cardiac arrest:
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) refer to the sudden cessation of organized cardiac electrical activity.
The event is referred to as SCA (or aborted SCD) if an intervention (e.g., CPR, defibrillation, cardioversion, anti-arrhythmic drug) or spontaneous reversion restores circulation. The event is called SCD if the patient dies.
The exact mechanism of collapse in an individual patient is often impossible to establish since, for the vast majority of patients who die suddenly, cardiac electrical activity is not being monitored at the time of their collapse. Here is everything you need to know about the cardiac arrest.
However, in studies of patients who were having cardiac electrical activity monitored at the time of their event, ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) (very fast irregular heartbeat) accounted for the majority of episodes, with bradycardia or asystole (no heart beat) accounting for nearly all of the remainder.
In most patients with VT/VF, a sustained ventricular arrhythmia is preceded by an increase in ventricular ectopy and the development of repetitive ventricular arrhythmia, particularly runs of non-sustained VT.
There are many cardiac and non-cardiac causes of a sustained ventricular tachy-arrhythmia that can result in SCD. Among all SCD in all age groups, the majority (65 to 70 percent) are related to coronary heart disease, with other structural cardiac disease (approximately 10 percent), arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) in the absence of structural heart disease (5 to 10 percent), and non-cardiac causes (15 to 25 percent) responsible for the remaining deaths.
Start CPR 10 in all cases of sudden cardiac arrest and continue till medical help arrives along with external electric shock machine. Here is how to give CPR the right way.
It may be advisable to opt for virtual autopsy along with blood molecular tests in cases of sudden cardiac death to know chances of a similar episode in the family in future.
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookie Policy.
