Stroke vs. sudden cardiac arrest: understanding the difference

Stroke and sudden cardiac arrest are both serious, life-threatening conditions. How can we differentiate between them for effective treatment and prevention? (Minh, 43, Hanoi)

Answer:

Both stroke and sudden cardiac arrest involve sudden collapse and loss of consciousness. Without prompt intervention, both can lead to death or permanent disability. However, they differ in their signs, causes, progression of symptoms, affected organs, treatment, and mortality rates.

	Stroke	Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Signs	Patients may experience severe headaches, difficulty speaking, facial drooping, weakness or numbness on one side of the body. Some may also experience loss of bowel or bladder control, followed by fainting and loss of consciousness. Early detection reveals a heartbeat and pulse, but later stages may show loss of pulse and cardiac arrest.	Patients may suddenly clutch their chest (often described as an intense crushing pain), collapse, and rapidly lose consciousness. Those trained to check can detect the absence of a pulse in the carotid or femoral arteries.
Causes	Two-thirds of strokes result from ischemic stroke causing blockage of blood flow to the brain. The remaining third are hemorrhagic strokes caused by sudden increases in blood pressure rupturing existing brain aneurysms.	Two-thirds of sudden cardiac arrests are caused by myocardial infarction due to coronary artery disease. Other causes include myocarditis, blood clots in the heart, heart attacks, ventricular fibrillation, abnormal heart rhythms (like Brugada syndrome), and atrioventricular block.
Organs Affected	Stroke affects one side of the body, causing symptoms like facial drooping and weakness or paralysis on one side. Prolonged stroke can affect the entire body and lead to death.	Sudden cardiac arrest affects the entire body due to the heart stopping and cutting off blood supply.
Treatment	Call emergency services (115) immediately. Transport the patient to a specialized stroke unit within the "golden hour" (less than 6 hours). Begin CPR only if there is no pulse while waiting for emergency services.	Immediately begin CPR while simultaneously calling emergency services (115). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be administered as soon as possible. After 5 minutes, the brain suffers irreversible damage from oxygen deprivation.
Mortality Rate	Without prompt treatment, the risk of death is high but lower than that of sudden cardiac arrest.	Very high, exceeding 90%.
Prevention	Maintain a healthy lifestyle and undergo regular health checkups, especially for those at high risk or with a history of stroke. Recommended tests include electrocardiograms (ECGs), echocardiograms, carotid ultrasound, and brain MRIs or CT scans.	Adopt a healthy lifestyle, exercise regularly, quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption, lose weight if overweight, manage blood pressure, lipid disorders, and diabetes. Undergo regular health checkups, particularly focusing on cardiovascular health, including ECGs, echocardiograms, and coronary angiography (DSA or CT scan) for those at high risk or with a history of coronary artery disease.