Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping altogether, usually because of a failure in electrical signaling. When the heart stops pumping, the brain is deprived of oxygen and unconsciousness swiftly follows, with death not far behind unless treatment is quickly applied. A heart attack will often lead to cardiac arrest, but you can suffer cardiac arrest without having a heart attack. The distinction between the two is medically important because they require different treatments, though the distinction may be a touch academic to the sufferer. All forms of heart failure can be cruelly
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