360 Human Explorer Tour : Is it a Heart Attack or Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

Either way, call 911, ask for someone to find and bring an AED, and while waiting start CPR if no pulse or breathing.

Do you know the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. Most people don’t.

Hi, I’m Dr. Rob Gillio of the Force for Health. I’m wearing my stethoscope to accentuate the importance of heart health this month.

COLD Weather Increases Risks, but either can happen anytime.

First of all, it is cold outside, which leads to anywhere from a 10 to 30 percent increase in heart attacks and sudden cardiac death.

Why does cold affect these things?

One, when you are shoveling snow, it is more work. When there is more work, the heart has to pump more blood.

Two, when it is cold, your body is under stress. It is trying to generate more heat, and when it does that, the heartbeat gets quicker.

Three, when you come in from outside and you have that hot drink or maybe a glass of wine and sit by the fireplace or take a sauna, your blood vessels dilate. More heat comes to your skin and you feel warmer, but your heart is racing to make that happen and keep your blood pressure up.

All those three things combine to put more stress on your heart.

So in the wintertime, wear a mask over your mouth or a scarf. Take it slow. Do not breathe in that very cold air.

Secondly, do minimal work with snow or snow shoveling. Like me, I have to let family members or hire someone to do it because I have heart and back issues and I am not going to risk it. I love life so much.

And three, try not to vasodilate when you come in. Do not go right from the cold into a sauna unless you live in Scandinavia and you are nineteen years old. THis lowers blood pressure which is necessary to feed blood to the struggling heart.

Those are cold risks.

What is the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac death?

Let me share my screen and show you something that might help you better understand.

Let’s take a look inside the body

Here is a normal heartbeat. Lub dub, lub dub. It is beating. This is normal. Look how it is regular. The atrium squeezes the blood into the ventricle. The ventricle stretches and pushes it out the aorta. This is the aorta. It stretches to send the blood to the rest of the body. It is a wonderful thing. These are called coronary arteries.

Sudden cardiac death:

When the heart can no longer pump blood because it is doing something like this. This is called ventricular fibrillation. The ventricle is like a bag of worms. It is not squeezing. Look again at the normal heart. It is squeezing the blood out. In ventricular fibrillation, the blood is just vibrating. Very little of it is flowing. If it does not flow in three minutes, your brain starts to die. At five minutes, it is over.

This situation is not a cardiac catheterization. It is not open heart surgery. It is you getting an AED shock to the heart or starting CPR. In the hospital, they do that plus potentially medication.

Now let’s look at something different.

Heart Attack:

In this one, look at the heart. There are these things called coronary arteries. These are the pipes that are going to the sprinklers that water the grass. They take the oxygen from the bloodstream to the heart muscle. If this blood vessel blocks off, this area dies. That is called a heart attack. Sometimes when it dies, it causes pain. If it happens in this major vessel on the right coronary artery, or other major vessels, a large part of the heart dies. That is called a massive heart attack.

Treatment:

How is that treated?

Sometimes, if you get to the hospital in time, you have a blockage that looks like a narrowing. Blood flows normally in a healthy vessel. But over time it gets narrowed with fat and other things. Sometimes it ruptures, causing a massive blockage.

In a hospital with the right skillset, a cardiac catheterization can open that blockage. A catheter is put through the wrist or groin in a cath lab. They blow up a balloon and push the blockage aside. We will talk more about that in the next video.

Bottom line:

Sudden Cardiac Arrest or sudden cardiac death is a rhythm problem. You can do CPR and use an AED to restart it.

Myocardial infarction, or heart attack:

Is when part of the heart dies. That is when you have pain in the chest or neck or arm. That requires you getting to the hospital and getting medications or a procedure to increase blood flow to that part of the heart.

A heart attack can lead to that abnormal rhythm before you die. So with a heart attack, if a person is unconscious, you will be doing CPR.

I hope that helps. Stay healthy this winter. It is heart month. Learn more about these things.

AED use and CPR are covered elsewhere in the Force for Health, and there are wonderful programs in your community where you can get certified.

Protect the Gift and Let the beat go on.

See you another time.