Ten advances defining sudden cardiac death

Raul D Mitrani; Robert J Myerburg

doi:10.1016/j.tcm.2015.03.017

Ten advances defining sudden cardiac death

Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2016 Jan;26(1):23-33. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2015.03.017. Epub 2015 Apr 4.

Authors

Raul D Mitrani¹, Robert J Myerburg²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL. Electronic address: rmitrani@miami.edu.
² Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.

PMID: 25957808
DOI: 10.1016/j.tcm.2015.03.017

Abstract

Recent advances in the field of sudden cardiac death (SCD) include the recognition that 50% of SCD occurs as initial presentation of any heart disease and that many of these individuals may have been considered to be low risk. The presenting dysrhythmia in patients with cardiac arrests has changed over time such that pulseless electrical activity and asystole is more frequently encountered as compared with ventricular tachyarrhythmias. While the use of implantable defibrillators has been a tremendous advance in patients at risk for ventricular tachyarrhythmias, the use of automatic external defibrillators and wearable defibrillators is a recent advance that allows for potential SCD prevention in more patients. Finally, the area of medical genetics is an evolving discipline, which may enable clinicians to better individualize therapy for patients with genetic predispositions to cardiac dysrhythmias.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Arrhythmias, Cardiac* / complications
Arrhythmias, Cardiac* / diagnosis
Arrhythmias, Cardiac* / physiopathology
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / etiology
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / pathology
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / prevention & control*
Defibrillators, Implantable
Electric Countershock* / instrumentation
Electric Countershock* / methods
Humans
Primary Prevention
Risk Assessment