This chest tightness can change from day to day, and/or from moment to moment. All of the above combinations and variations are common. This type of chest tightness is commonly misconstrued as heart problems or the signs of a heart attack.
Cardiac arrest, also known as cardiopulmonary arrest or circulatory arrest, is a sudden stop in effective blood circulation due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively or at all. Medical personnel may refer to an unexpected cardiac arrest as a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
Unexpected cardiac arrest can lead to death within minutes: this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). The treatment for cardiac arrest is immediate defibrillation if a shockable rhythm is present, while cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is used to provide circulatory support and/or to induce a shockable rhythm.