Cardiac Arrest

[starlane]

I know this is a dumb question, but what is the difference between a myocardial infarction and a cardiac arrest?? I always thought these were the same thing

[OldDude]

infarction is occlusion of the coronary arteries - arrest is cessation of the heartbeat

[lfdfiremedic]

And MI is when blood flow to a portion of the heart is occluded, causing injury to the heart due to a lack of oxygen. Cardiac arrest happens when there is no effective contraction of the heart, or none at all.

[HikingEDRN, BSN, RN]

You can certainly have cardiac arrest with MI but, as others have nicely described, they are definitely not the same thing. Hopefully, you can get to the patient soon enough if they are infarcting and get them to the cardiac cath lab so those vessels supplying blood to the heart can be opened back up.

[firstinfamily, RN]

Infarction is the active occurrance of heart muscle dying, usually by a blockage of the coronary arteries. The cardiac cath procedure should be able to re-open the coronary artery before total tissue death occurs. Cardiac arrest is just that, the arrest of the heart, no pumping action at all, no pulse etc. You can have an infarction without having a cardiac arrest, but most of the time the infarction leads to a cardiac arrest.

[SilleLu]

Cardiac Infarction = plumbing

Cardiac Arrest = electrical

[kool-aide, RN]

MI can lead to cardiac arrest. An mi that is untreated will ultimately lead to cardiac arrest, which is what kills you.