2-1

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2-1. DEFINITIONS

a. Heart Attack. A heart attack (myocardial infarction) is the death of heart muscle tissue caused by a blood clot (thrombus) or other substance circulating in the blood (embolus) that blocks one or more of the coronary arteries (arteries that provide the heart muscles with oxygen-rich blood).

b. Cardiac Arrest. Cardiac arrest (sudden death) is the sudden and unexpected cessation of pulse and blood circulation. That is, the casualty's heart stops beating. When the heart stops beating, the casualty's breathing will also stop and he will loose consciousness, usually within 10 to 30 seconds of the cardiac arrest.

c. Clinical Death. Clinical death occurs as soon as the casualty's heart stops beating, he stops breathing, and he looses consciousness. Clinical death can be reversed by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

d. Biological Death. Biological death usually occurs 6 to 10 minutes after clinical death if efforts to restore breathing and heartbeat are not performed. Biological death involves irreversible brain damage.

e. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. The prefix "cardio-" refers to heart, "pulmonary" refers to the lung, and "resuscitation" means to bring a person who appears to be dead back to consciousness. Thus, cardiopulmonary resuscitation means to restore lung function (breathing) and heart function (blood circulation) to a person who is clinically dead.

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