Cardiorespiratory arrest is the time when the heart stops working and the person stops breathing and it is necessary to perform a heart massage to make the heart beat again.
Cardiorespiratory arrest can be caused by a number of causes, but most often it occurs due to heart problems. It can happen when the person is apparently healthy or when already in the hospital, even when already being treated.
First aid in cardiorespiratory arrest
What should be done in the cardiac arrest is to immediately call an ambulance, calling 192, and start cardiac massage, so that the person is more likely to survive. To perform cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth breathing, you must:
- Call for the victim, in an attempt to verify whether he is aware or not;
- If the person is unconscious, the Basic Life Support should be started, verifying if the victim is breathing and if there is no air coming out of the mouth or nose of the victim;
- If the person breathes normally, the person should be placed in a lateral safety position and call 192, otherwise they should immediately call the health service and initiate the basic life support maneuvers;
- Loosen the clothes to facilitate breathing and tilt the head of the victim back to facilitate the passage of air through the throat;
- Then there should be 30 chest compressions in a rhythmic fashion, followed by two blow-ups, which can be done with the aid of a specific mask, if you do not feel comfortable doing mouth-to-mouth breathing.
Compressions and insufflations should be made until the victim regains consciousness or until relief arrives, informing the rescuer what has been done, how many cycles of chest compressions have been made, if insufflation has been made, and what happened.
This light and fun video shows what to do if you find a victim of cardiac arrest on the street:
Symptoms of cardiorespiratory arrest
The main symptoms of cardiorespiratory arrest are:
- Severe chest pain;
- Shortness of breath;
- Cold sweat;
- Feeling of palpitation;
- Dizziness and fainting;
- Blurred or blurred vision;
In addition to these symptoms, signs such as lack of pulse and lack of breathing movements appear, which clearly indicates that the heart stopped beating and the person stopped breathing.
Main causes
Cardiopulmonary arrest can be caused by various conditions, such as bleeding, hemorrhage, accidents, generalized infections, neurological problems, acute myocardial infarction, respiratory infection, lack of oxygen and lack or excess of blood sugar, for example.
Regardless of the causes, cardiorespiratory arrest is a very serious situation that requires urgent medical attention. Know other causes of cardiac arrest.