71 Sentences With "asystole" | Random Sentence Generator

"Worked asystole arrest for 40 minutes, als intubated in the field/epi/2 liters NS infused," the post read.

Adult advanced life support algorithm. 2010. As in asystole, the prognosis for a patient presenting with this rhythm is very poor. Sometimes this appears after asystole or after a failed resuscitation attempt.

In extreme cases, such as asystole, cardiopulmonary resuscitation may be required.

Lightning injuries are injuries caused by a lightning strike. Initial symptoms may include heart asystole and respiratory arrest. While the asystole may resolve spontaneously fairly rapidly, the respiratory arrest is typically more prolonged. Other symptoms may include burns and blunt injuries.

As hypoxemia supervenes, the patient becomes comatose and death may result from ventricular fibrillation or asystole.

Asystole is the absence of ventricular contractions in the context of a lethal heart arrhythmia (in contrast to an induced asystole on a cooled patient on a heart-lung machine and general anesthesia during surgery necessitating stopping the heart). Asystole is the most serious form of cardiac arrest and is usually irreversible. A cardiac flatline is the state of total cessation of electrical activity from the heart, which means no tissue contraction from the heart muscle and therefore no blood flow to the rest of the body. Asystole should not be confused with very brief pauses in the heart's electrical activity—even those that produce a temporary flatline—that can occur in certain less severe abnormal rhythms.

In fact, in the case of Clarence Ray Allen, a second dose of potassium chloride was required to attain asystole.

Trimecaine must not be used at hypersensitivity on amide anesthetics, hypervolemia, hypotension, cardial conduction defects, asystole, cardiogenic shock and malignant hyperthermia in anamnesis.

Asystole is treated by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) combined with an intravenous vasopressor such as epinephrine (a.k.a. adrenaline). Sometimes an underlying reversible cause can be detected and treated (the so-called "Hs and Ts", an example of which is hypokalaemia). Several interventions previously recommended—such as defibrillation (known to be ineffective on asystole, but previously performed in case the rhythm was actually very fine ventricular fibrillation) and intravenous atropine—are no longer part of the routine protocols recommended by most major international bodies. Asystole may be treated with 1 mg epinephrine by IV every 3–5 minutes as needed.

Defibrillation is not recommended, despite commonly appearing on medical dramas as a remedy for asystole, but can be used for certain other causes of cardiac arrest.

Asystole is different from very fine occurrences of ventricular fibrillation, though both have a poor prognosis, and untreated fine VF will lead to asystole. Faulty wiring, disconnection of electrodes and leads, and power disruptions should be ruled out. Asystolic patients (as opposed to those with a "shockable rhythm" such as ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, which can potentially be treated with defibrillation) usually present with a very poor prognosis. Asystole is found initially in only about 28% of cardiac arrest cases in hospitalized patients, but only 15% of these survive, even with the benefit of an intensive care unit, with the rate being lower (6%) for those already prescribed drugs for high blood pressure.

A cardiac flatline is also called asystole. It can possibly be generated by malfunction of the electrocardiography device, but it is recommended to first rule out a true asystole because of the emergency of such condition. When a patient displays a cardiac flatline, the treatment of choice is cardiopulmonary resuscitation and injection of vasopressin (epinephrine and atropine are also possibilities). Page 113 Successful resuscitation is generally unlikely and is inversely related to the length of time spent attempting resuscitation.

Survival rates in a cardiac arrest patient with asystole are much lower than a patient with a rhythm amenable to defibrillation; asystole is itself not a "shockable" rhythm. Even in those cases where an individual suffers a cardiac arrest with asystole and it is converted to a less severe shockable rhythm (ventricular fibrillation, or ventricular tachycardia), this does not necessarily improve the person's chances of survival to discharge from the hospital, though if the case was witnessed by a civilian, or better, an EMT, who gave good CPR and cardiac drugs, this is an important confounding factor to be considered in certain select cases. Out-of-hospital survival rates (even with emergency intervention) are less than 2 percent. The term is from 1860, from Modern Latin, from Greek privative a "not, without" + systolē "contraction"..

Garcia T, Miller B. Arrhythmia Recognition: The Art of Interpretation. Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury MA: 2004. Clinically, an agonal rhythm is regarded as asystole and should be treated equivalently, with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and administration of intravenous adrenaline.UK Resuscitation Council.

ECT can cause a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the heart, heart arrhythmia, and "persistent asystole". Deaths, however, are very rare after ECT: 6 per 100,000 treatments. If they do occur, cardiovascular complications are considered as causal in about 30%.

In medicine, an agonal heart rhythm is a variant of asystole. Agonal heart rhythm is usually ventricular in origin. Occasional P waves and QRS complexes can be seen on the electrocardiogram. The complexes tend to be wide and bizarre in morphological appearance.

Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, or paralysis of the heart or respiratory center. The only post mortem signs are those of asphyxia. Treatment of poisoning is mainly supportive.

It is only when bradycardia presents with signs and symptoms of shock that it requires emergency treatment with transcutaneous pacing. False capture with visible phantom beats Some common causes of hemodynamically significant bradycardia include myocardial infarction, sinus node dysfunction and complete heart block. Transcutaneous pacing is no longer indicated for the treatment of asystole (cardiac arrest associated with a "flat line" on the ECG), with the possible exception of witnessed asystole (as in the case of bifascicular block that progresses to complete heart block without an escape rhythm). During transcutaneous pacing, pads are placed on the patient's chest, either in the anterior/lateral position or the anterior/posterior position.

There is a slight chance of the rate dropping to zero, or flatline (asystole). However, there are several studies that showed choking out will result in a few seconds of flat line ECG for a few seconds at least in half of the subjects. This might suggest that choking out or syncope is not as safe as it was assumed to be previously. Some argue that with thousands of tournaments since the sport of Judo began in 1882, hundreds of thousands of chokes have been applied, and the probability of hundreds if not thousands of choke-outs, with no reported deaths due to chokes, the chances of asystole are slim.

Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinus bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.

The syndrome clinically presents as acute refractory bradycardia that leads to asystole, in the presence of one or more of the following conditions; metabolic acidosis, rhabdomyolysis, hyperlipidemia, and enlarged liver. The association between PRIS and Propofol infusions is generally noted at infusions higher than 4 mg.kg for greater than 48 hours.

Asystole has occurred after physostigmine administration for tricyclic antidepressant overdose, so a conduction delay (QRS > 0.10 second) or suggestion of tricyclic antidepressant ingestion is generally considered a contraindication to physostigmine administration.Rosen, Peter, John A. Marx, Robert S. Hockberger, and Ron M. Walls. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 8th ed.

Recovery is often rapid, but usually the child is sleepy after the attack, and there may be persisting pallor. Doctors reported that the length of the postictal stupor reflected the duration of the asystole up to a maximum of 3 minutes of stupor. Some cases recorded took longer to recover.

Stokes–Adams attacks can be precipitated by this condition. These involve a temporary loss of consciousness resulting from marked slowing of the heart when the atrial impulse is no longer conducted to the ventricles. This should not be confused with the catastrophic loss of heartbeat seen with ventricular fibrillation or asystole.

A frequent type of syncope, termed vasovagal syncope is originated by intense cardioinhibition, mediated by a sudden vagal reflex, that causes transitory cardiac arrest by asystole and/or transient total atrioventricular block.Brignole, M, Alboni, P, Benditt, DG, et al. Guidelines on management (diagnosis and treatment) of syncope--update 2004. Europace 2004; 6:467.

Clinicians classify cardiac arrest into "shockable" versus "non-shockable", as determined by the ECG rhythm. This refers to whether a particular class of cardiac dysrhythmia is treatable using defibrillation. The two "shockable" rhythms are ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia while the two "non-shockable" rhythms are asystole and pulseless electrical activity.

Within the group of people presenting with cardiac arrest, the specific cardiac rhythm can significantly impact survival rates. Compared to people presenting with a non-shockable rhythm (such as asystole or PEA), people with a shockable rhythm (such as VF or pulseless ventricular tachycardia) have improved survival rates, ranging between 21-50%.

The first surgery was halted when the patient experienced asystole ("flatline"). The patient was stabilized and the second phase of the pneumonectomy was completed two weeks later. The patient survived for several years. Nissen was the first Western physician to complete the procedure; successful pneumonectomy was reported in the United States in 1933.

High blood potassium does not generally result in adverse effects below a concentration of 6.5 to 7 mEq per liter. Therefore, the increase in serum potassium level is usually not catastrophic in otherwise healthy patients. Severely high blood levels of potassium will cause changes in cardiac electrophysiology, which, if severe, can result in asystole.

Defibrillation is often an important step in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CPR is an algorithm- based intervention aimed to restore cardiac and pulmonary function. Defibrillation is indicated only in certain types of cardiac dysrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia. If the heart has completely stopped, as in asystole or pulseless electrical activity (PEA), defibrillation is not indicated.

26, available here and even in La Coruña press he was presented as a bit of an eccentric.Vida Gallega 02.01.20, available here Except periodicals focused on aristocracy,Revista de Historia y de Genealogía Española 8 (1928), available here his passing awayMartelo died of asystole, El Orzán 03.04.28, available here was noted only in local press;see e.g.

Sick sinus syndrome, a sinus node dysfunction, causing alternating bradycardia and tachycardia. Often there is a long pause (asystole) between heartbeats. Adams-Stokes syndrome is a cardiac syncope that occurs with seizures caused by complete or incomplete heart block. Symptoms include deep and fast respiration, weak and slow pulse and respiratory pauses that may last for 60 seconds.

Only the cardiac arrest rhythms ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia are normally defibrillated. The purpose of defibrillation is to depolarize the entire heart all at once so that it is synchronized, effectively inducing temporary asystole, in the hope that in the absence of the previous abnormal electrical activity, the heart will spontaneously resume beating normally. Someone who is already in asystole cannot be helped by electrical means, and usually needs urgent CPR and intravenous medication. (A useful analogy to remember is to think of defibrillators as power cycling, rather than jump-starting, the heart.) There are also several heart rhythms that can be "shocked" when the patient is not in cardiac arrest, such as supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia that produces a pulse; this more-complicated procedure is known as cardioversion, not defibrillation.

Hypotension remaining after oxygenation may be treated by rapid crystalloid infusion. Cardiac arrest in drowning usually presents as asystole or pulseless electrical activity. Ventricular fibrillation is more likely to be associated with complications of pre-existing coronary artery disease, severe hypothermia, or the use of epinephrine or norepinephrine. While surfactant may be used no high quality evidence exist that looks at this practice.

The ACLS guidelines were updated by the American Heart Association and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation in 2010. New ACLS guidelines focus on BLS as the core component of ACLS. Foci also include end tidal monitoring as a measure of CPR effectiveness, and as a measure of ROSC. Other changes include the exclusion of atropine administration for pulseless electrical activity (PEA) and asystole.

Bradyarrhythmias are associated with complete atrioventricular blockage and sudden asystole. The underlying cause of sudden cardiac death is unclear, despite the understanding that heart disease causes arrhythmias, which in turn produce sudden cardiac death. Lown describes the heart as the target, and the brain is called the trigger. Sudden cardiac death is triggered by an electrical accident, which can be treated with ventricular defibrillation.

Anabasine is a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist. In high doses, it produces a depolarizing block of nerve transmission, which can cause symptoms similar to those of nicotine poisoning and, ultimately, death by asystole. In larger amounts it is thought to be teratogenic in swine. The intravenous LD50 of anabasine ranges from 11 mg/kg to 16 mg/kg in mice, depending on the enantiomer.

Cardiac resuscitation guidelines (ACLS/BCLS) advise that cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be initiated promptly to maintain cardiac output until the PEA can be corrected. The approach in treatment of PEA is to treat the underlying cause, if known (e.g. relieving a tension pneumothorax). Where an underlying cause for PEA cannot be determined and/or reversed, the treatment of pulseless electrical activity is similar to that for asystole.

Also Beta-receptor antagonists should be avoided in patients with AV node dysfunction and/or patients on other medications which might cause bradycardia (i.e. calcium channel blockers). The potential for these contraindications and drug-drug interaction could lead to asystole and cardiac arrest. Certain calcium channel blocker should be avoided with some beta-receptor blockers since they may cause severe bradycardia and other potential side effects.

The normal treatments for episodes due to the pathological look-alikes are the same mainstays for any other episode of cardiac arrest: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, defibrillation to restore normal sinus rhythm, and if initial defibrillation fails, administration of intravenous epinephrine or amiodarone. The goal is avoidance of infarction, heart failure, and/or lethal arrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, asystole, or pulseless electrical activity), so ultimately to restore normal sinus rhythm.

The efferent portion is carried by the vagus nerve from the cardiovascular center of the medulla to the heart, of which increased stimulation leads to decreased output of the sinoatrial node. This reflex is especially sensitive in neonates and children, particularly during strabismus correction surgery. However, this reflex may also occur with adults. Bradycardia, junctional rhythm and asystole, all of which may be life- threatening, can be induced through this reflex.

ECG lead A flatline is an electrical time sequence measurement that shows no activity and therefore, when represented, shows a flat line instead of a moving one. It almost always refers to either a flatlined electrocardiogram, where the heart shows no electrical activity (asystole), or to a flat electroencephalogram, in which the brain shows no electrical activity (brain death). Both of these specific cases are involved in various definitions of death.

ECG rhythm strip of a threshold determination in a patient with a temporary (epicardial) ventricular pacemaker. The epicardial pacemaker leads were placed after the patient collapsed during aortic valve surgery. In the first half of the tracing, pacemaker stimuli at 60 beats per minute result in a wide QRS complex with a right bundle branch block pattern. Progressively weaker pacing stimuli are administered, which results in asystole in the second half of the tracing.

Since depolarization due to concentration change is slow, it never generates an action potential by itself; instead, it results in accommodation. Above a certain level of potassium the depolarization inactivates sodium channels, opens potassium channels, thus the cells become refractory. This leads to the impairment of neuromuscular, cardiac, and gastrointestinal organ systems. Of most concern is the impairment of cardiac conduction, which can cause ventricular fibrillation, abnormally slow heart rhythms, or asystole.

Stroke activates the neurocardiac axis, producing arrhythmias, cardiac damage, and sudden death. In a recent study on patients with already diseased hearts and electrocardiographic abnormalities, there was evidence of lost hypothalamic- medullary integration at the midbrain. This resulted in the fact that overactivity in the parasympathetic nervous system may also cause sudden death with asystole after stroke. Catecholamine medications have been studied to mediate the effects of electrocardiographic changes and heart damage.

Sones expected the man's heart to go into fibrillation and prepared to do an emergency open chest massage. But instead of fibrillating, the man's heart went into asystole, and Sones shouted at him to cough, which successfully restarted the heart beating.Meyers, p. 201 From this experience, Sones realized that smaller amounts of contrast dye could safely be injected directly into coronary arteries, giving cardiologists accurate pictures of arterial blockages for the first time.

However, the ventricular response rate is temporarily slowed with adenosine in such cases. Because of the effects of adenosine on AV node-dependent SVTs, adenosine is considered a class V antiarrhythmic agent. When adenosine is used to cardiovert an abnormal rhythm, it is normal for the heart to enter ventricular asystole for a few seconds. This can be disconcerting to a normally conscious patient, and is associated with angina-like sensations in the chest.

High-output heart failure can occur when there is increased cardiac demand that results in increased left ventricular diastolic pressure which can develop into pulmonary congestion (pulmonary edema). Several terms are closely related to heart failure and may be the cause of heart failure, but should not be confused with it. Cardiac arrest and asystole refer to situations in which no cardiac output occurs at all. Without urgent treatment, these result in sudden death.

A heart which is in asystole (flatline) cannot be restarted by a defibrillator, but would be treated by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In contrast to defibrillation, synchronized electrical cardioversion is an electrical shock delivered in synchrony to the cardiac cycle. Although the person may still be critically ill, cardioversion normally aims to end poorly perfusing cardiac dysrhythmias, such as supraventricular tachycardia. Defibrillators can be external, transvenous, or implanted (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator), depending on the type of device used or needed.

Barbiturate overdoses typically cause death by depression of the respiratory center, but the effect is variable. Some patients may have complete cessation of respiratory drive, whereas others may only have depression of respiratory function. In addition, cardiac activity can last for a long time after cessation of respiration. Since death is pronounced after asystole and given that the expectation is for a rapid death in lethal injection, multiple drugs are required, specifically potassium chloride to stop the heart.

When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. By that time, paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix turning cyanotic, in full cardiac arrest and in asystole. They administered medication in an attempt to restart his heart. The following day, the club became a makeshift shrine, with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures and candles on the sidewalk, as well as graffiti messages on the walls of the venue.

Rearrest, which may have a similar etiology to cardiac arrest, is characterized as a compromise in the electrical activity of the heart often due to an ischemic event. The post- arrest patient who has recently obtained pulses, is dependent on prehospital care providers for ventilation assistance, arrhythmia correction through medication and blood pressure monitoring. Therefore insufficient care in any of these treatments may contribute to a rearrest event. The lethal arrhythmia may be either ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia or asystole.

In children, the most common cause of cardiopulmonary arrest is shock or respiratory failure that has not been treated, rather than a heart arrhythmia. When there is a cardiac arrhythmia, it is most often asystole or bradycardia, in contrast to ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia as seen in adults. Other causes can include drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, or overdose of medications such as antidepressants in a child who was previously healthy but is now presenting with a dysrhythmia that has progressed to cardiac arrest.

Severe hypokalemia (<3.0 mEq/l) may require intravenous supplementation. Typically, a saline solution is used, with 20–40 meq/l KCl per liter over 3–4 hours. Giving IV potassium at faster rates (20–25 meq/hr) may inadvertently expose the heart to a sudden increase in potassium, potentially causing dangerous abnormal heart rhythms such as heart block or asystole. Faster infusion rates are therefore generally only performed in locations in which the heart rhythm can be continuously monitored such as a critical care unit.

A fainting response pattern is not seen in all individuals with BII phobia, but is found in a majority. Up to 80% of those with BII phobia report either syncope or pre-syncope as a symptom when exposed to a trigger. Other symptoms that may evolve when exposed to phobic triggers include extreme chest discomfort, tunnel vision, becoming pale, shock, vertigo, diaphoresis (profuse sweating), nausea, and in very rare cases asystole (cardiac arrest) and death. Increase in stress hormone release (particularly of cortisol and corticotrophin) is typical.

As devices that can quickly produce dramatic improvements in patient health, defibrillators are often depicted in movies, television, video games and other fictional media. Their function, however, is often exaggerated, with the defibrillator inducing a sudden, violent jerk or convulsion by the patient; in reality, although the muscles may contract, such dramatic patient presentation is rare. Similarly, medical providers are often depicted defibrillating patients with a "flat- line" ECG rhythm (also known as asystole). This is not normal medical practice, as the heart cannot be restarted by the defibrillator itself.

The initial reading from the cardiac monitor indicated he was asystole, meaning that he had no detectable heart activity at all. However, mere seconds later, there were signs of Pulseless electrical activity, meaning his heart was not beating but faint electrical activity was still detectable. At this point, nurses began calling out observations to the doctor on the apparent lifeless body of Owen to doctor Michael Tucker. Owen’s skin had turned blue, his lips were colorless and his skin was cold, nurses also reported he had no bowel sounds and his abdomen was soft.

The Halachic Organ Donor Society, also known as the HOD Society, was started in December 2001 by Robert Berman. Its mission is to save lives by increasing organ donation from Jews to the general public (including gentiles). The organization recognizes the legitimate debate in Orthodox Jewish law surrounding brain stem death and offers a unique organ donor card that allows people to choose between donating organs at brain stem death or alternatively at cessation of heart beat (asystole). It currently has thousands of members, including more than 200 Orthodox Rabbis and several Chief Rabbis.

This is based on a compression rate of 100-120 compressions per minute, a compression depth of 5–6 centimeters into the chest, full chest recoil, and a ventilation rate of 10 breath ventilations per minute. Correctly performed bystander CPR has been shown to increase survival; however, it is performed in less than 30% of out of hospital arrests . If high-quality CPR has not resulted in return of spontaneous circulation and the person's heart rhythm is in asystole, discontinuing CPR and pronouncing the person's death is reasonable after 20 minutes. Exceptions to this include certain cases with hypothermia or who have drowned.

To minimize time spent calculating medication doses, the use of a Broselow tape is recommended. The 2010 guidelines from the American Heart Association no longer contain the recommendation for using atropine in pulseless electrical activity and asystole for want of evidence for its use. Neither lidocaine nor amiodarone, in those who continue in ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation despite defibrillation, improves survival to hospital discharge but both equally improve survival to hospital admission. Thrombolytics when used generally may cause harm but may be of benefit in those with a confirmed pulmonary embolism as the cause of arrest.

Conduction system of heart Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) occur when the heart abruptly begins to beat in an abnormal or irregular rhythm (arrhythmia). Without organized electrical activity in the heart muscle, there is no consistent contraction of the ventricles, which results in the heart's inability to generate an adequate cardiac output (forward pumping of blood from heart to rest of the body). There are many different types of arrhythmias, but the ones most frequently recorded in SCA and SCD are ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). Less common causes of dysrhythmias in cardiac arrest include pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or asystole.

Illustration of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a battery-powered device that monitors electrical activity in the heart and when an arrhythmia or asystole is detected is able to deliver an electrical shock to terminate the abnormal rhythm. ICDs are used to prevent sudden cardiac death (SCD) in those that have survived a prior episode of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) due to ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia (secondary prevention). ICD's are also used prophylactically to prevent sudden cardiac death in certain high risk patient populations (primary prevention). Numerous studies have been conducted on the use of ICDs for the secondary prevention of SCD.

Dr. Carter, who has decided to stay up all night to wait for his call from Kem and is hanging around the ER with Susan and Rachel, is again pressed into service to assist. Dr. Morris is ordered by Dr. Banfield to triage patients as they arrive. The first patient was thrown 20 feet and is diagnosed as a possible lacerated spleen or liver, to be sent straight to the OR. The second patient has a compound leg fracture with no circulatory impairment, which Dr. Banfield takes herself for an orthopedic consult. The third patient was electrocuted and fell into asystole on the way in, declared DOA.

There is no evidence that external cardiac compression can increase cardiac output in any of the many scenarios of PEA, such as hemorrhage, in which impairment of cardiac filling is the underlying mechanism producing loss of a detectable pulse. A priority in resuscitation is placement of an intravenous or intraosseous line for administration of medications. The mainstay of drug therapy for PEA is epinephrine (adrenaline) 1 mg every 3–5 minutes. Although previously the use of atropine was recommended in the treatment of PEA/asystole, this recommendation was withdrawn in 2010 by the American Heart Association due to lack of evidence for therapeutic benefit.

Ictal bradycardia is a potential cause or reason for ictal asystole to occur and is believed to help explain the phenomenon of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).Through the simultaneous use of electroencephalograph (EEG) and electrocardiograms (ECG), researchers can monitor and record a patient going through ictal bradycardia seizures. And most importantly provide treatment with both antiepileptic drugs and cardiac pace as deemed necessary for the patient. Although there is limited amount of information about ictal bradycardia, as it is a relatively new discovery and is considered to be rare condition, researchers suggest that early diagnosis and treatment of ictal bradycardia can eliminate the chances of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

After that, Rita took care of his daughter and her children and she spent the rest of her life helping them with housework duties. Rita passed away 29 June 1937 due to an asystole at the age of 78 in Zorita del Maestrazgo in the province of Castellón, where she and the citizens of Carabanchel had been evacuated by the authorities in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War broke out. "The existence of Rita was eccentric but not problematic. Her life consisted in loving as much as she could, singing everything that she was asked to and enjoying every pleasure of life within her reach", according to Oído al Cantante Flamenco newspaper.

Injecting potassium chloride into the heart of a fetus causes immediate asystole, but depending on the method used, digoxin may fail to induce fetal demise in some cases (up to 5% if injected into the fetus and up to a third if injected into the amniotic sac) even though it is the preferred drug in many clinics. Digoxin is preferred because it is technically difficult to inject KCl into the heart or umbilical cord. The most common method of selective reduction—a procedure to reduce the number of fetuses in a multifetus pregnancy—is foeticide via a chemical injection into the selected fetus or fetuses. The reduction procedure is usually performed during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Pulseless electrical activity, it is possible to observe by invasive blood pressure (red) the transition from a normal mechanical activity of the heart, which progressively changes in rhythm and contractile quality to asystolia, even in the presence of normal electrical activity (green), also confirmed by the pulse oximeter detection even if with artifacts (blue) The absence of a pulse confirms a clinical diagnosis of cardiac arrest, but PEA can only be distinguished from other causes of cardiac arrest with a device capable of electrocardiography (ECG/EKG). In PEA, there is organised or semi-organised electrical activity in the heart as opposed to asystole (flatline) or to the disorganised electrical activity of either ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia.

In some places, a shortage of funds, portable ECG machines, or qualified personnel to administer and interpret them (medical technicians, paramedics, nurses trained in cardiac monitoring, advanced practice nurses or nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians in internal or family medicine or in some area of cardiopulmonary medicine) exist. If sudden cardiac death occurs, it is usually because of pathological hypertrophic enlargement of the heart that went undetected or was incorrectly attributed to the benign "athletic" cases. Among the many alternative causes are episodes of isolated arrhythmias which degenerated into lethal VF and asystole, and various unnoticed, possibly asymptomatic cardiac congenital defects of the vessels, chambers, or valves of the heart. Other causes include carditis, endocarditis, myocarditis, and pericarditis whose symptoms were slight or ignored, or were asymptomatic.

In 1889, John Alexander MacWilliam reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of his experiments in which application of an electrical impulse to the human heart in asystole caused a ventricular contraction and that a heart rhythm of 60–70 beats per minute could be evoked by impulses applied at spacings equal to 60–70/minute. In 1926, Mark C Lidwill of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital of Sydney, supported by physicist Edgar H. Booth of the University of Sydney, devised a portable apparatus which "plugged into a lighting point" and in which "One pole was applied to a skin pad soaked in strong salt solution" while the other pole "consisted of a needle insulated except at its point, and was plunged into the appropriate cardiac chamber". "The pacemaker rate was variable from about 80 to 120 pulses per minute, and likewise the voltage variable from 1.5 to 120 volts". In 1928, the apparatus was used to revive a stillborn infant at Crown Street Women's Hospital, Sydney whose heart continued "to beat on its own accord", "at the end of 10 minutes" of stimulation.