Determining the "Cause of death" is the most important thing after the death of a person. The cause of death is the underlying disease process or injury or any abnormality, which sets in motion a physiologic process (mechanism), which may be brief or prolonged but which ultimately gives rise to death.
Often in death certificates issued by Medical Officers, the "Cause of death" is mentioned as "Cardio-pulmonary Arrest".
It is obviously true that when we die our heart stops beating & we no longer breath. This however can neither be a cause of death nor the mechanism of death. Isn't this just a description of a person being dead ?
Cardiorespiratory arrest (CRA) is only a description of a person being dead and not a cause of death. CRA is the final step of all physiopathological mechanisms leading to death and is important to know the manner of death to describe the initial process of this chain of events; for instance: Coronary atherosclerotic disease with acute myocardial infarction, Acute pulmonary oedema secondary to left ventricle failure, cranial traumatism in traffic accident, hypovolemic shock due to neck injuries, etc.
every cardiac arrest can have a underlying causes. however, cardiac arrest is generally refers to those with unpredictable sudden cardiac arrest such as those during exercise in teenagers. for terminally ill patients when they died, we do not refer them as as "Cardio-pulmonary Arrest".
Traditionally, death has been defined as permanent and irreversible cessation of function of the heart and breathing. However, more recently this has been expanded to include permanent and irreversible cessation of brain stem functions which support life. Clearly many conditions or events can give rise to these situations and would be regarded as the ‘cause of death’.
Ultimately, all dead persons, whatever the cause, will have cessation of function of their heart and breathing, and therefore technically, are in a state of cardiorespiratory arrest. However, this term is usually reserved for those who have a sudden and unexpected collapse and in whom cardiopulmonary resuscitation is appropriate. Again, in all of these individuals there must be a cause of their collapse, and if resuscitation is unsuccessful, this would be their ‘cause of death.’
Finally, there is the situation of an individual on cardiopulmonary bypass, they have cessation of function of both heart and breathing but we would not use the term cardiorespiratory arrest to describe them or even regard them as being dead!
In summary, I don’t think that cardiorespiratory arrest is a description of death or a cause of death.
My opinion is too that cardiopulmonary arrest is nothing but synonymous word for syncope and asphyxia which are mode of death not the cause of death.
Yes, it is :-)
Sorry for a late answer. Cardiopulmonary arrest is only a final result of various different causes.
"Cardiorespiratory Arrest" is not the cause of death rather it is a mode of death.
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