Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Heart Attack. What’s the difference?
Sudden cardiac arrest vs. a heart attack: It’s apples to oranges
By JOHN COLEMAN
jcoleman@poststar.com | Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 12:00 a
This past June, 66-year-old retiree Gerald Reed was mowing his
lawn at his home in Warrensburg when he collapsed.
“It was a warm day and I thought it was just dehydration or
something,” Reed said.
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After resting and drinking some water, he finished mowing his
lawn.
It wasn’t until weeks later that Reed found out that what he
thought was a fainting incident, was actually a sudden cardiac
arrest (SCA).
He owes his life to a small device called an ICD, or Implanted
Cardiac Device, that he had implanted just months before. Reed had
suffered a heart attack in 1995, but had put off the implant until
last April.
An ICD acts as a built-in defibrillator that revives the heart
should it have a sudden cardiac arrest, and even sends a
transmission to a telephone to notify a nurse of an event.
On the day when Reed collapsed, his ICD had been triggered when
he lost consciousness while mowing – he had gone into sudden
cardiac arrest and the defibrillator in the device shocked his
heart back to life; however, the transmitter was not yet enabled at
the time so no one was alerted. When the phone adapter arrived in
the mail a week later and the transmitter was turned on, it
automatically notified a nurse, who soon after called and told his
wife that the device had been activated when Reed passed out while
mowing.
According to the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 250,000 deaths
occur each year as a result of sudden cardiac arrest. In fact, SCA
claims one life every two minutes, taking more lives each year than
breast cancer, lung cancer or AIDS. Yet, according to a recent
survey issued by the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 70 percent of Americans not only
underestimate the seriousness of SCA, but also believe SCA is a
type of heart attack. In fact, a heart attack blocks blood flow
to the heart; SCA stops the heart. The difference is critical, and
heart attack survivors face the highest risk of SCA.
The HRS recently launched a multi-year campaign to raise
awareness about cardiac arrest and to differentiate it from a heart
attack. To do this, the Heart Rhythm Society used the analogy of
apples to oranges in its logo.
Gerald Reed’s cardiologist, Dr. John “Jack” Layden, said that
while certain factors put people at risk for SCA – such as
cardiomyopathy, or weak heart muscle, and surviving an SCA as Reed
had – some cardiac arrest victims have no symptoms, and Layden said
most SCAs are fatal.
“Mr. Reed is not the only person who delayed (implanting an ICD)
because of fear; fortunately, he decided to get it done in time.
For most people, this is not the case,” Layden said.
Layden said the American College of Cardiology (ACC) recently
broadened its scope of people that should consider getting an ICD.
He said the procedure is expensive but is now covered by Medicare
because of ACC studies.
In retrospect, Reed said he was lucky.
“I said to myself, ‘You big baby, you should have done this
before.’ I’m lucky my wife didn’t come home to find me lying on the
lawn,” Reed said. “I had somebody looking over me that day.”
Nine out of 10 heart disease patients, which includes risk of
heart attack and/or SCA, have at least one risk factor, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several medical
conditions and lifestyle choices can cause a higher risk for heart
disease, including:
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Cigarette smoking
- Overweight and obesity
- Poor diet
- Physical inactivity
- Alcohol use
If you have survived a heart attack or have a history of heart
disease, contact your doctor about getting an Implanted Cardiac
Device. For information and resources about sudden cardiac arrest,
visit www.hrsonline.org.
To read the original article please visit: PostStar.com
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