Asystole, (Flatliner) A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

by Kenneth Kee

Overview

This book describes Asystole (Flatliner), Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases
Asystole
Flatliners is a movie where 5 medical students stop their heart beat by using electric shock to their heart for longer and longer periods of time before being resuscitated back by their friends.
I saw the 1990 version of this movie. It was particularly interesting for me as a medical doctor. Apparently there is 2017 version of this movie.
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.
While the heart is asystolic, there is no blood flow to the brain unless CPR or internal cardiac massage (when the chest is opened and the heart is manually compressed) is performed, and even then it is a small amount.
After many emergency treatments have been applied but the heart is still unresponsive, it is time to consider pronouncing the patient dead.
Even in the rare case that a rhythm reappears, if asystole has persisted for fifteen minutes or more, the brain will have been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause brain death.
Cardiac arrest (unlike asystole) is brought on by irregular beating of the heart that causes it to stop supplying blood flow to the other organs, including the brain.
In cardiac arrest the heart is still beating irregularly (the ECG shows abnormal rhythm) while in asystole the heart is completely not beating (ECG is a flatline)
Asystole is completely different from cardiac arrest.
Asystole is a critical type of cardiac arrest in which the heart stops beating and there is no electrical activity in the heart.
As a result, the heart is at a total stop.
When a person goes into asystole, the person must be rapidly revived using CPR.
Asystole is treated by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) combined with an intravenous vasopressor medicine such as epinephrine (adrenaline)
Many other methods may be done such as defibrillation or medicines can also be given such as atropine, epinephrine, vasopressin, internal cardiac massage (the person is opened up and pressure is applied directly to the heart).
1. Primary asystole forms when cellular metabolic functions are no longer whole and an electrical impulse cannot be produced.
With serious ischemia, pacemaker cells cannot transport the ions needed to affect the trans-membrane action potential.
Implantable pacemaker malfunction may also be a cause of primary asystole.
Proximal occlusion of the right coronary artery can produce ischemia of both the sinoatrial (SA) and the atrioventricular (AV) nodes.
Secondary asystole
Frequent causes are:
1.Suffocation,
2.Near drowning,
3.Stroke,
4.Massive pulmonary embolus,
5.Hyper-kalemia,
6.Hypothermia,
Symptoms:
A rhythm that is truly asystole and has been present for more than several seconds will cause the patient to be unconscious and not responsive.
A few agonal (final gasping) breaths may be observed
The detectable heart sounds and palpable peripheral pulses are absent.
Diagnosis
Asystole is normally a diagnosis made through continuing cardiac monitoring or electrocardiogram (ECG) and physical examination with pulse-less-ness.
Treatment
Electrical defibrillation is never the first choice of treatment in the patient in asystole
The treatments in the emergency department are:
1.Providing oxygenation and ventilation through endotracheal intubation and
2.Improving circulation through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
3.Attempting transcutaneous or transvenous pacing
4.Administrating of pharmacologic agents.
The only 2 drugs advised are epinephrine and vasopressin
Vasopressin gives a better prognosis than epinephrine although it is poor in both cases.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter1 Asystole
Chapter2 Causes
Chapter3 Symptoms
Chapter4 Diagnosis
Chapter5 Treatment
Chapter6 Prognosis
Chapter7 Cardioversion
Chapter8 Cardiac Arrest

Product Details

BN ID:	2940155204992
Publisher:	Kenneth Kee
Publication date:	04/07/2018
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	161 KB

About the Author

Medical doctor since 1972. Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009. Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993. Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 65. However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. He first started writing free blogs on medical conditions seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com. His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com. This autobiolographical account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com. From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 550 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks. He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books. He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures. Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple. For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients. The later books go into more details of medical conditions. The first chapter of all my ebooks is always taken from my blog A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions which was started in 2007 as a simple educational help to my patients on my first blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com. The medical condition was described simply and direct to the point. Because the simple guide as taken from the blog was described as too simple, I have increased the other chapters to include more detailed description of the illness, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. As a result there are the complaints by some readers of constant repetitions of the same contents but in detail and fairly up to date. He has published 550 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter. The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health conditions and not meant as textbooks. He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke. His clinic is now relocated to the Bouna Vista Community Centre. The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall. He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) starting with the Apple computer and going to PC. All the PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core. The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive. He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance. His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner. The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned. This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale. Dr Kee is the author of: "A Family Doctor's Tale" "Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine" "Case Notes From A Family Doctor"