Difference between a heart attack, cardiac arrest, and stroke?
In: 473
**Heart attack = Myocardial infarction = Cardiac muscle death**
Causes:
Blood clot and/or plaque blockage of coronary artery causing heart muscle to die from lack of oxygen.
Injury such as when Dick Cheney shot that lawyer in the heart. In this case it caused some heart muscle death, not sure if the shot (BB) lodged in a coronary artery, most likely just direct muscle injury.
Severe anemia such as when there is a large loss of blood such as a gunshot wound.
Excess cardiac muscle O2 demand such as from use of cocaine or methamphetamine.
**Cardiac arrest = cessation of heart muscle action = asystole or ventricular fibrillation**
Causes:
Abnormal conduction in the signal pathway
Other causes I’m not sure of.
**Stroke**
Causes:
Hemorrhagic type: There is a bleed inside the skull causing a buildup of blood in the skull and displacing the brain tissue causing brain tissue death.
Occlusive type: Blood flow is blocked to the brain tissue due to blood clot or plaque blockage in a cerebral artery.
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