Sudden cardiac arrest and AEDs

What we call cardiac arrest is known in medicine as cardiopulmonary arrest, cardiorespiratory arrest or circulatory arrest. According to the definitions given by specialized persons, it represents the sudden cessation of normal blood circulation as a result of failure of the heart to contract effectively during systole. Moreover, “arrested” blood circulation prevents delivery of oxygen to all parts of the body. Lack of oxygen supply to the brain (known as cerebral hypoxia) usually causes loss of consciousness, stopping normal breathing. Undoubtedly, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) represents a medical emergency and the first step related to first-aid treatment in the case of a sudden cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CPR is meant to provide circulatory support for a while and this varies according to the heart beating. Of course, in most of the cases, this process necessarily requires an automated external defibrillator (AED), a special portal electronic device designed for medical purposes which automatically diagnoses the possible life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation. The rhythms which are treated by this device refer to ventricular fibrillation (VF/ V-Fib) and ventricular tachycardia (VT/V-Tach).

In establishing the categories regarding the diagnosis of cardiac arrest, the specialists took into consideration the ECG/EKG rhythm. Thus, there can be outlined 4 rhythms which can determine a cardiac arrest: ventricular fibrillation (VF/VFib) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT), both representing the “shockable” rhythms and also responsive to a defibrillator; the other two are asystole and pulseless electrical activity (PEA) which, in contrast to the previous ones, are not shockable.

Clinical death is the most common term through which non-specialized individuals can understand what a cardiac arrest means. There is a wide range of causes of sudden cardiac arrest. For instance, among adults the main cause is represented by ischemic heart disease.

The conclusion which can be drawn is that cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including measures such as defibrillation, intubation and drug administration must be considered the first step, more precisely the initial treatment of cardiac arrest.

As a result of this syndrome called sudden cardiac arrest, there has been a growing need of automated external defibrillators. The disturbance in the heart rhythm (ventricular fibrillation) is very dangerous and represents an emergency situation. A solution for this emergency consists of the applying of an electric shock, a process called defibrillation.

As it has been mentioned, automated external defibrillators are essential in saving someone's life and for this reason AEDs are available in more and more places, such as public institutions, airports, casinos, hotels, sports stadiums, restaurants, malls etc. As far as the type of the defibrillators is concerned, one can choose between two types available on the market: defibrillators used by specialized persons and those designed for public use. If initially the usage on an AED required the presence of a trained human being, anyone can save lives nowadays, helped by such a device. This is due to the fact that automated external defibrillators contain computer chips that lead non-specialized ones to administrate shocks if this is absolutely vital. The Red Cross plays a crucial roll in preparing initiating courses for anybody who might be really interested in. Nonetheless, it is advisable for everyone to be acquainted with the main usage of an AED. No matter what is said about this, the truth is that using such a device at the right time properly means shaping the possibility for someone to recover.

Of course, training is indicated for those interested in knowing what the symptoms of a sudden cardiac arrest are, to perform the cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and even to switch on a device like AED. Even though AEDs are meant to save the hearts of patients of any age, there are some devices designed to rescue children that are less than 8 years old. Some of automated external defibrillators use voice instructions which tell you if a patient should be administrated a shock or not. Briefly, even if one has little training, he/she will have no problem in using an automatic or a semi-automatic device.

As is has been noticed that 8 children out of 1000 suffer from a heart disease, AEDs are also available in schools and can be detected in cases of emergency especially near the entrances if different buildings.

To summarize, AEDs prove to be one of the most important inventions, giving each of us the possibility to come into direct contact with medical devices through which we can save lives in the case of sudden heart attacks or other situations that require emergency.