Update on prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest

Prediction and prevention of sudden cardiac arrest.

1692 CMAJ, October 18, 2011, 183(15) © 2011 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors Major advances have been made in understanding the causes of and treatments for cardiovascular disease, and mortality related to such disease has been reduced. However, the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest has remained almost un changed for decades, generally affecting younger people (mean age about 65 y...

Sudden cardiac death: prevention and treatment.

Sudden cardiac death remains a major health issue in western countries as well as in Hong Kong. Despite increasing knowledge of the mechanisms and risk factors of sudden cardiac death, methods for identifying high-risk candidates and predicting the efficacy of measures to prevent sudden cardiac death are still inadequate. A significant proportion of patients have known heart disease but are gen...

Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Sudden cardiac arrest during sports.

Exercise can trigger an acute cardiac event which may precipitate sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). On the other hand, exercise is important for physical fitness and prevention of cardiovascular disease, and the medical community should therefore inform the general public of the health benefits of sports and exercise. At the same time, the public are exposed to alarmist mass media coverage of athlet...

Strategies for the prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac death

Cardiovascular diseases account for 40% of all deaths in the West. Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a major health problem affecting over 300,000 patients annually in the United States alone. Presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), usually in the setting of diminished left ventricular ejection fraction, is still the single major risk factor for SCD. Additionally, acute myocardial ischemia, stru...