Cardiac Arrest Rhythms

Four Ways a Pump Dies

Imagine a water pump at a fire station that must spray water constantly or the city burns. The pump has an electrical starter (SA node), pipes that carry the signal (conduction system), a motor that spins (heart muscle), and water in the tank (blood volume). V-fib is like the starter sparking randomly in a thousand places at once—the motor just vibrates and shakes, spraying nothing. V-tach is like the motor spinning so fast it sucks the tank dry between revolutions—technically running but useless. PEA is like the starter clicking perfectly (the spark is there) but the tank is empty, the motor is seized, or the output pipe is crushed—electricity without action. Asystole is like the battery is dead; no spark, no click, nothing. In all four cases, the fire rages because no water flows—and the city only has four to six minutes before it burns down.