What is the medical term for the complete absence of all heart electrical activity?

The term that describes the complete absence of all electrical activity in the heart is asystole. This condition indicates that there is no electrical impulse originating from the heart's pacemaker, resulting in the absence of any contractions or heartbeats. In clinical terms, asystole is a critical situation signaling that the heart has effectively stopped functioning in terms of its electrical activity, which is crucial for maintaining circulation and delivering oxygenated blood to the body.

Arrhythmia refers to any irregularity in heart rhythm, which can include conditions where the heart beats too fast, too slow, or with an irregular pattern, but it does not indicate a complete absence of electrical activity. Fibrillation involves chaotic electrical activity in the heart, such as in the case of ventricular fibrillation, where the heart muscles quiver rather than contract effectively, leading to loss of coordinated cardiac output but not a complete absence of activity. Cardiac arrest generally denotes a cessation of effective circulation due to any number of reasons, including asystole or fibrillation, but does not specify the absence of electrical activity like asystole does. Hence, asystole is the precise term for complete absence of heart electrical activity.