ABSTRACT
Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency that, if left untreated, invariably leads to death within a few minutes. A cardiac arrest is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively during systole. Cerebral hypoxia causes victims to lose consciousness immediately and stop breathing. The primary first-aid treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which is defined as emergency first aid for an unconscious person on whom breathing and pulse cannot be detected. First aid is a series of simple, life-saving medical techniques that a layman can be trained to perform. However, even when performed correctly, CPR can injure the person it is performed on. This is a normal occurrence, and should always be taken into account. When an automatic external defibrillator (AED) is present, it can be considered a first-aid device to be used by bystanders and certainly the most promising intervention.
