This hectic life, rapid lifestyle changes and poor eating habits increase the risk of many diseases. One of these diseases is cardiac arrest. In recent years, cases of cardiac arrest have increased so much that a fear has arisen in people’s minds. It is worrying that even good young people are becoming victims.
We have seen many such videos on social media, in which a young person suddenly dies of cardiac arrest while dancing or working out in a gym.
There is, however, a method which, if applied immediately, increases the chances of saving a patient suffering from cardiac arrest. In medical language, this is called CPR, i.e. cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
According to the American Heart Association’s “Heart and Stroke Statistics 2022” report, cardiac arrest is a public health crisis. More than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States, approximately 90% of which are fatal. What is surprising is that each year in the United States, more than 23,000 children and young people are victims.
According to the famous medical journal ‘De Lascent’, every year in India, around 5-6 million people die due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCD), and a large number of them are people aged 50 years. or less.
so today ‘health record’ In it we will tell you in detail about CPR and also know that-
What is the correct procedure for administering CPR? Can it save lives? How does CPR work on the body?
It is important that everyone knows CPR, so that everyone can provide first aid to a patient in cardiac arrest. Regarding this, we spoke to Dr. Gaurang Majumdar, Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon at Medanta Hospital, Lucknow and he answered all the questions regarding this.
Question: What is CPR?
answer: CPR, i.e. cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an emergency life-saving procedure, which is carried out when the heart stops beating. CPR can help a person survive a cardiac arrest. Even if you don’t know how to administer CPR, you can help someone simply by using your hands. To do this, you must act immediately.
Question: How does CPR work inside the body?
answer: The role of the heart is to maintain blood circulation throughout the body. It is a mechanically muscular pump, which pumps blood 60 to 70 times per minute and delivers blood under pressure to the entire body. Blood contains oxygen and nutrition and to stay alive, every cell in the body requires oxygen and nutrition through the blood.
Blood does the job of providing oxygen and nutrition to all of these cells. The job of sending this blood to all the cells is done by the central pump, i.e. the heart. This is called heart pumping function.
Once blood circulates throughout the body, oxygen and nutrition are removed from that blood, after which the blood turns black. The same blood goes to the lungs to make them red again by giving them oxygen, so as soon as the person breathes, this black blood turns red. Overall, understand that the heart and lungs work together as a unit to keep a person alive. The first word in CPR is “cardiac,” meaning heart. The second is “pulmonary”, which means lungs. These two elements are very important for living life.
Suppose for some reason the heart stops pumping, blood will no longer circulate through the body and when blood no longer circulates, who will provide oxygen and nutrition. Although oxygen is very important for every organ, the most important is the brain, which is a very sensitive organ.
If the brain does not receive blood, the person will enter a permanent coma. After the heart stops, the brain dies. In such a situation, to keep the brain alive, the heart needs to be started immediately, but the heart has stopped. In such a situation, we will have to operate the heart mechanically.
For this we give external compression to the heart, that is, we press on the chest with our hands. As a result, the blood inside the heart will go throughout the body, some of it will also go to the lungs. But in case of cardiac arrest, even the lungs will not work, so the person will have to receive oxygen through mouth-to-mouth.
Perform chest compressions four or five times and exhale once. By performing the compression, the blood will go throughout the body and we will give our oxygen to this blood. This process must be carried out continuously until the heart begins to function.
Question: What is the difference between cardiac arrest and a heart attack?
answer: Cardiac arrest means the heart is unable to pump and expel blood. Due to the pumping of the heart, blood goes throughout the body and once the heart pumps, 60 to 70 ml of blood goes throughout the body. This is called ejection. When the heart stops pumping, it is called cardiac arrest.
A heart attack means a blockage of the tube that supplies blood to the heart. Due to sudden blockage of the channel, the heart muscles do not receive blood and these muscles become damaged. This is called a heart attack. A heart attack does not mean an arrest, but a heart attack may or may not lead to an arrest.
Question: Can CPR also be given in case of a heart attack?
answer: No, CPR is only administered in cases of cardiac arrest. CPR is not necessary in a heart attack because even though our blood pressure is maintained and our heart rate continues, a heart attack still occurs.
Question: So how do you know when a cardiac arrest has occurred?
answer: In case of heart attack, the patient will say that he is in pain and sweating, then immediately take him to the hospital, but in case of cardiac arrest, the patient will immediately fall in the same place and lose consciousness. In such a situation, CPR should be administered immediately by laying the patient down on a flat surface. Poor CPR won’t do anything, but not doing it will definitely make a difference.
Question: How soon after arrest is there a chance of performing CPR?
answer: CPR should be started within three minutes of losing consciousness. If this is delayed, the brain becomes dead. Even if the heart starts working again after three minutes of CPR, the person will still be in a coma. It’s no use. Therefore, the sooner CPR is administered, the better the recovery will be.
Question: Do doctors also perform CPR?
answer: Doctor Gaurang Majumdar says doctors also perform CPR at the hospital. This results in 60-70% recovery, but there is 50% more difficulty in roadside CPR because people don’t have full knowledge of it.
Question: How long should CPR be administered?
answer: Until the heart starts working again. With CPR, you can keep a person alive for about 2 hours.