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A sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs when there is an abrupt loss of heart function and can be due to a variety of heart conditions. The most common cause of SCA is a sudden onset of abnormal heart rhythm. This is usually due to a fast but chaotic heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF) or tachycardia (VT).
Occasionally, SCA can be due to a pause in heart rhythm due to abnormality of the heart pacemaker cells or during a heart attack. It is estimated that 1000 Singaporeans die from sudden cardiac death every year, about half of whom are below 60 years old.
When a patient suffers from VF (a form of cardiac arrest), the heart beats 400 to 500 beats per minute, causing the normal rhythmic contractions of the lower chambers of the heart to stop. When the heart contraction stops, blood and oxygen are not pumped to the rest of the body and within seconds, the brain becomes starved of oxygen and the person loses consciousness. Without immediate treatment, the brain will cease to function and the person will die within minutes.
A cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. SCA is caused by an abnormal heart rhythm due to abnormal 'electrical circuitry' of the heart. A heart attack is caused by blockage or occlusion of the arteries supplying blood to the heart, causing a portion of the heart muscle to be damaged. This may or may not lead to a cardiac arrest.
Sudden cardiac arrest often occurs without warning symptoms. A person with sudden cardiac arrest might lose consciousness, collapse suddenly and become pulseless.
Occasionally, shortlived warning symptoms might occur, which include:
Although sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is becoming a growing problem in Singapore, it does not randomly occur in people. It has been found that 75% of all SCA patients show signs of a previous heart attack and 80% of them have signs of coronary artery disease (CAD).
It has also been found that people who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, or a family history of coronary artery disease (CAD) are at risk of developing CAD which in turn could be leading to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). A person who has family members who die of SCA at young age is also at risk as some heart conditions that predisposed to SCA can be inherited.
As such, the following groups of people are more prone to developing SCA:
Although SCA by definition occurs unexpectly, there are several ways to prevent it through some simple and effective steps.
A SCD attack can occur during a heart attack where the damaged heart muscle induces abnormal heart rhythm or there is a sudden loss of heart pumping function due to massive damage to the heart muscle. Strategies to prevent development of CAD and heart attack will therefore be effective in preventing SCA.
Primary Prevention of CAD
Those who are young or have not developed signs and symptoms of CAD should:
Secondary Prevention of CAD
Those who already have documented CAD (e.g. had angina, heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery) should be more aggressive with the primary prevention steps, especially with smoking and controlling the risk factors. In some cases, critical narrowing of the artery of the heart should be treated either by ballooning or coronary artery graft bypass operation, as these treatments not only can relieve the symptoms of angina but also prolonging life in certain cases. Some medications have also been proven to reduce the progression of CAD and therefore the risk of heart attack and heart failure, which are the two most common causes of SCD.
SCA is one of the commonest modes of death in patient with poor heart function (e.g. heart failure) Poor heart function is usually caused by repeated injury to the heart muscle (heart attacks) that leads to scarring and subsequent loss of muscle contraction function. However, poor heart function can be due to disease of the heart muscle itself (termed cardiomyopathy) either due to inherited heart muscle disease or virus infection.
The symptoms for heart failure are mainly difficulty in breathing on exertion or swelling of the legs. The diagnosis can be made on clinical examination, chest X-ray and ultimately on echocardiography (ultrasound scan of the heart). Patients with poor heart function should be on long-term medications that are proven to improve symptoms and prolong life expectancy.
It is also proven that patients with severely impaired heart function, irrespective of causes, will live longer if they are implanted with the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). However, ICDs are expensive at the moment and not all patients can afford or will benefit from it. Studies are on-going to see who are the most appropriate patients to be implanted with this device.
Therefore, if the diagnosis of poor heart function is made early and appropriate medications or treatments instituted, some SCA attacks in heart failure patients can be prevented.
Some heart diseases are inherited and the parents or siblings may have the same problem. These include CAD, cardiomyopathy and some heart conduction disorders.The commonest inherited risk factor for CAD is high cholesterol. Extremely high cholesterol can lead to CAD and heart attack in very early age. A person who had parents or sibling who had CAD at very young age or high cholesterol should have his/her cholesterol check. Aggressive reduction of cholesterol can reduce the chance of developing CAD and therefore SCD.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can be inherited and is due to abnormal thickening and arrangement of the heart muscle cells. These changes in the heart muscle can cause VF or VT that can lead to SCA. Diagnosis can be made on electrocardiogram (ECG) and/or echocardiogram. Certain types of HCM are prone to SCA and a person with HCM who has had siblings die of SCD should have an ICD implanted.
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is also an inherited disorder presenting with a structurally abnormal right ventricle. The diagnosis can be made using a variety of non-invasive methods, including a combination of ECG, echocardiogram and sometimes a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. An ICD is often required in these patients.
Dilated cardiomyopathy features a dilated heart with poor heart function and, although can be inherited, it can be due to virus infection and, rarely, related to pregnancy in females. Viral myocarditis usually presents with typical flu symptoms and later developed symptoms of heart failure. The diagnosis can be made on ECG and echocardiography.
Some electrical disorders of the heart can lead to SCA and occasionally can be picked up during routine ECG. Many of these disorders are also inherited, and a strong family history of SCA is important.
One of these disorders is caused by an extra nerve connecting the heart chambers (known as the Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome), which can cause an “electrical short-circuit” in the heart, causing a rapid heartbeat. The good news is that this condition is now easily treatable with a procedure called catheter ablation, where a thin tube (catheter) is advanced into the heart via a vein (usually from the leg/groin), to deliver a burst of radiofrequency energy to burn off this abnormal nerve or pathway.
Another type of electrical disorder that can cause SCA is due to abnormalities attributable to the membrane of the heart muscle cells (Brugada and Long QT Syndromes). They frequently occur in young, apparently healthy individuals with no known heart problems, although the ECG can often show some abnormalities on careful examination. In many, the first presentation is usually an attack of SCA. However, frequent fainting episodes or even a diagnosis of epilepsy may accompany such conditions. For such patients, the ICD is the only alternative to prevent SCD.
A sudden cardiac arrest occurs when there is a dangerous form of electrical malfunction in the heart, known as life-threatening arrhythmia. This causes the patient’s heart to pump ineffectively, resulting in the inability of vital organs to receive blood and oxygen.
If the patient does not receive emergency treatment, death usually ensues within minutes. However, with immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and treatment with automated external defibrillator (AED), the patient may recover with restoration of normal heart rhythm.
Cardiac arrest usually develops in a person with pre-existing, possibly undiagnosed heart condition. These conditions include:
What makes sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) a silent killer is that unlike a heart attack, which has the typical symptoms of chest pains and breathlessness, a cardiac arrest however, has no warning signs and symptoms. The only way to treat a SCA attack and to set the rapid heartbeat back to its normal pace is to deliver an electrical shock to the heart using a device called a defibrillator. For individuals who are identified as patients at a higher risk of suffering from a SCA attack, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a pocket-sized device which sends an electric current to the heart when the heart beat becomes abnormal, could be implanted in the body.
In the event a person collapses from sudden cardiac arrest, the key to survival is early defibrillation. It has been found that each minute of delay before defibrillation reduces survival by about 10%.
To help a person who has collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest, the following steps have proven to be vital especially since time is precious:
