Eli5: what is the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest?

Question

Eli5: what is the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest?

In: 224

Answer 1

A heart attack is when a cardiac blood vessel becomes blocked and blood supply is cut off to a section of the heart, which will die if blood supply is not restored. Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating. This can (and usually is) be caused by a heart attack, but there are other causes.