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Respiratory arrest is a medical emergency where breathing stops, leading to cardiac arrest and irreversible brain damage if not treated within five minutes. Causes include airway obstruction, trauma, neurological disorders, and drug overdose. Signs include difficulty breathing, confusion, and cyanosis. Treatment involves artificial ventilation and CPR, followed by identifying and treating the underlying cause. Immediate action is crucial, and 911 should be called while rescue breathing is administered.
Respiratory arrest is a medical emergency characterized by a complete cessation of breathing. Within minutes, the patient usually goes into cardiac arrest, if not immediately when he goes into respiratory arrest. If normal gas exchange in the lungs is disrupted for more than five minutes, the brain will suffer irreversible damage and, if the patient is successfully resuscitated, could experience permanent neurological damage.
There are a number of reasons someone can go into respiratory arrest. One reason is airway obstruction, which can occur in the upper or lower airways and can be caused by things like allergic reactions, blood or mucus in the airways, or a foreign body in the airways. Trauma can also lead to respiratory arrest, as well as neurological and muscle disorders. Another reason is drug overdose, which slows down the respiratory system and heart rate, and can cause breathing to stop completely.
Signs of respiratory arrest are very easy to identify. The patient often appears extremely agitated, unable to speak and may make gestures to indicate that he is having difficulty breathing. Prior to respiratory arrest, breathing may be labored or irregular, and the patient may be confused or have other symptoms of impairment. Very quickly, the patient usually becomes unconscious and cyanotic, with the nail bed, lips and extremities turning blue.
The immediate treatment for respiratory arrest is artificial ventilation to get oxygen into the patient. This can come in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which is also designed to restart the heart. Once the patient is breathing again, steps can be taken to find out why the patient went into arrest and to treat the underlying cause. In some cases, a patient may require long-term artificial ventilation because he or she cannot breathe on their own.
The seriousness of this medical emergency cannot be underestimated. If someone stops breathing, ventilation should be provided immediately through rescue breathing while 911 is called. When calling to report respiratory or cardiac arrest, the caller should quickly indicate the location and clarify that the patient is not breathing. The caller will usually be asked to stay on the line until an ambulance arrives and, if necessary, will be instructed through rescue breathing, CPR, and other measures that can be taken to improve the patient’s chances of survival in the time needed to the arrival of the emergency services.
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