Respiratory arrest

Respiratory arrest is the cessation of breathing due to failure of the lungs to function effectively. Apnea is the stopping of breathing. Prolonged apnea refers to a patient who has stopped breathing for a long period of time.^[1] If the heart muscle contraction is intact, the condition is known as respiratory arrest. The heart not pumping blood is called a cardiac arrest. Lack of oxygen to the brain causes loss of consciousness. Brain injury is likely if respiratory arrest goes untreated for more than three minutes, and death is almost certain if left untreated for more than five minutes. However, the brain is less damaged by a lack of oxygen if the body is cold, which helps in situations like treating Hypothermia (such as giving CPR). This means that helping the blood flow in hypothermia is more important than treating the respiratory arrest, to some amount. One of the first serious stages of anaphylaxis is respiratory arrest, then followed by cardiac arrest and death.

1. ↑ Advanced Cardiac Life Support: Managing respiratory arrest; 2014. [updated 2014, cited 25 March 2016]. Available from: https://acls.com/free-resources/respiratory-arrest-airway-management/managing-respiratory-arrest Archived 2016-04-07 at the Wayback Machine.