Prognosis
The most important prognostic factor is how quickly after the onset of cardiac arrest resuscitation measures are started, which is often the responsibility of medical laypersons who happen to be present at the situation or find the patient unconscious and pulseless, and should then intervene boldly, but in practice this is often omitted for fear of making mistakes. Depending on the cause of the cardiac arrest, but above all on how quickly and successfully resuscitation was performed, the prognosis varies greatly and ranges from definitive death to full recovery. Frequently, the patient remains dependent for an indefinite period of time on the apparatus taking over the heart and lung function, and a subsequent coma of very variable depth and duration is also possible.
In spite of successful resuscitation, depending on the length of the condition without circulation or with only makeshift resuscitation, cognitive deficits are possible to a small extent or even probable and pronounced, since the brain is very susceptible in case of undersupply. In most cases, patients who have survived a cardiac arrest are significantly more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest again. Other diseases, such as Lance-Adams Syndrome, in which muscle cramps occur due to the lack of oxygen in the brain, are also more likely to develop.
