HEART ATTACK AND CARDIAC ARREST – By Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam Heart attack and Cardiac arrest are related but different as all heart attacks do not result in cardiac arrests and many cardiac arrests are not caused by heart attacks. Heart attack is said to have effected when a major artery supplying heart muscle is blocked ending in death of the muscles (Myocardial Infarction). Cardiac arrest is said to have occurred when the heart goes into a state losing its capacity to pump blood to rest of the body. Victim of heart attack is often conscious, sweating, nauseous and anxious but victim of cardiac arrest will be unconscious and not breathing. In a person who had fallen to the ground clutching his chest who is conscious and responding to commands or fainted but responding to painful stimuli, he had not suffered cardiac arrest. If a person suffers a cardiac arrest and ...