Sometimes the terms heart attack and cardiac arrest get lumped together, but they’re two very different emergency situations. A heart attack occurs when a blocked artery prohibits proper blood flow to the heart. A cardiac arrest—sometimes called sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death—means that the heart completely stops. Symptoms of a heart attack can start slowly with mild symptoms or can be immediate and intense and can include unexplained tiredness, shortness of breath, or pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck or back. In more than half of cases, sudden cardiac arrest happens with no prior symptoms. Learn more heart attacks vs. cardiac arrest.
