critical care medicine
Cardiac Arrest
Introduction
Cardiac arrest is the cessation of cardiac mechanical activity resulting in the absence of circulating blood flow. Cardiac arrest stops blood from flowing to vital organs, depriving them of oxygen, and, if left untreated, results in death. Sudden cardiac arrest is the unexpected cessation of circulation within a short period of symptom onset (often without warning). Sudden cardiac arrest occurs outside the hospital in more than 400,000 people/year in the United States, including an estimated 5000 infants and children, with a > 90% mortality rate. Overview of Respiratory Arrest and cardiac arrest are distinct, but without treatment, one inevitably leads to the other. (See also (See also the American Heart Association [AHA]2023 updateof heart disease and stroke statistics for out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest.) 