Automatic External Defibrillators and Sudden Cardiac Death

Abstract

Sudden cardiac arrest claims approximately 400,000 lives a year in the United States alone. It is the leading cause of death in men between 20 and 65 years of age. In the vast majority of cases, cardiac arrest is caused by the sudden onset of ventricular tachycardia, which is either sustained or, more commonly, progresses to ventricular fibrillation. Although most people who die of sudden cardiac arrest have underlying ischemic heart disease and associated left ventricular dysfunction, unexpected cardiac arrest is usually a primary electrical event not associated with a new myocardial infarction. If treated promptly, ventricular fibrillation is reversible . . .