Acute & emergency · UKMLA & AKT
Respiratory arrest
A free high-yield preview for the UKMLA Applied Knowledge Test, covering how to recognise this condition. The full SA Note notes add investigations, management and complications, with practice questions on this topic.
Key high-yield points
- Respiratory arrest → hypoxia → cardiac arrest within minutes if untreated
- Paediatric arrest is almost exclusively respiratory in origin - oxygenation is the priority
- Agonal breathing - slow, irregular gasps; brainstem reflex present in ~40% of arrests; must NOT be interpreted as normal breathing - begin CPR
Tension pneumothorax → one-way valve traps air → impairs venous return → reduced cardiac output → PEA. The conducting system remains intact, so organised electrical activity is present on ECG despite absent pulse.
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