I46.9

Cardiac arrest, cause unspecified

Cessation of heart beat or myocardial contraction. If it is treated within a few minutes, heart arrest can be reversed in most cases to normal cardiac rhythm and effective circulation.

Sudden cessation of the pumping function of the heart, with disappearance of arterial blood pressure, connoting either ventricular fibrillation or ventricular standstill.

The heart has an internal electrical system that controls the rhythm of the heartbeat. Problems can cause abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias. There are many types of arrhythmia. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or it can stop beating. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart develops an arrhythmia that causes it to stop beating. This is different than a heart attack, where the heart usually continues to beat but blood flow to the heart is blocked. There are many possible causes of cardiac arrest. They include coronary heart disease, heart attack, electrocution, drowning, or choking. There may not be a known cause to the cardiac arrest. Without medical attention, the person will die within a few minutes. People are less likely to die if they have early cardiopulmonary resuscitation cpr) and defibrillation. Defibrillation is delivering an electric shock to restore the heart rhythm to normal.

The sudden cessation of cardiac activity so that the victim subject/patient becomes unresponsive, without normal breathing and no signs of circulation. Cardiac arrest may be reversed by cpr, and/or defibrillation, cardioversion or cardiac pacing.

I46.9 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes.

This is the American ICD-10-CM version of I46.9 – other international versions of ICD-10 I46.9 may differ.