WHAT WENT WRONG?
A drop in
blood pressure and blood flow caused by the heart’s inability to pump
blood as a
result of a cardiac emergency, such as cardiac tamponade, myocardial
ischemia,
myocarditis, or cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart that deteriorates
the heart
muscle). Blood pools in the left ventricle, which causes a back up of blood
into the
lungs, resulting in pulmonary edema. Contractions increase to compensate
for the
decreased cardiac output, causing an increase in demand for oxygen by
the heart.
However, the lungs are not oxygenating the blood sufficiently due to
decreased
blood flow; and therefore heart muscles are starved for oxygen.
