By Rob Basso on
4/25/2011 10:59 AM
By: Michele Gervat
Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. Many victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
• EMS treats about 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year in the U.S.
• Less than
eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
• Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating. A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest....