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Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), Also Called Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Is When the Heart Abruptly and Without Warning Stops Pumping

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Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), Also Called Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Is When the Heart Abruptly and Without Warning Stops Pumping Sudden Cardiac death Sudden cardiac death (SCD), also called sudden cardiac arrest, is when the heart abruptly and without warning stops pumping. When SCD occurs, no blood can rhythmic way. When a contraction problems. But the truth is that sud - be pumped to the rest of the body. happens, blood is pumped. den cardiac death is not a random It is responsible for half of all heart event. Most victims do have heart disease deaths. But in ventricular fibrillation, the diseases or other health problems, electrical signals that control the although they may not know it. Sudden cardiac death occurs pumping of the heart suddenly when the heart’s electrical system become rapid and chaotic. As a There are numerous contributors to malfunctions. It is not a heart at - result, the lower chambers of the cardiac arrest, but two of the most tack (also known as a myocardial heart, the ventricles, quiver or fib - important ones are: infarcation). A heart attack is when rillate instead of contracting, and a blockage in a blood vessel inter - they can no longer pump blood Coronary artery disease. This is rupts the flow of oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the a condition in which the arteries to the heart, causing heart muscle body. If blood cannot flow to the that supply blood to the heart are to die. So if the heart can be com - brain, the brain becomes starved narrowed or blocked. In fact, 75 pared to a house, SCD occurs of oxygen, and the person loses percent of people who die of SCD when there is an electrical problem consciousness in seconds. Unless show signs of a previous heart and a heart attack when there is a an emergency shock is delivered attack. plumbing problem. to the heart to restore its regular A low ejection fraction (EF). The rhythm using a machine called a ejection fraction is a measurement The most common cause of cardiac defibrillator, death occurs within of how much blood is pumped by arrest is a heart rhythm disorder or minutes. It’s estimated that more the left ventricle (the heart’s main arrhythmia called ventricular fibril - than 70 percent of ventricular fibril - pumping chamber) with each heart lation (VF). The heart has a built-in lation victims die before reaching beat. A healthy heart pumps 55 electrical system. In a healthy heart, the hospital. the sinoatrial node, the heart’s percent or more of its blood out to natural “pacemaker” triggers the Who Is At Risk? the body with each beat. People at highest risk for SCD have ejection heartbeat, then electrical impulses SCD often occurs in active, out - fractions of less than 35. Doctors run along pathways in the heart, wardly healthy people with no frequently recommend implanting causing it to contract in a regular, known heart disease or other health did you In 1903, physiologist Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) invented the electrocardiograph, which know measures electric current in the heart and is the precusor of the modern day EKG. defibrillators for patients with ejec - advanced through veins into the tion fractions less than 35 percent , heart under x-ray to record its Are You at Risk? to reduce their risk of sudden electrical signals. During the study, If you suspect that you are at cardiac death. the electrophysiologist studies the speed and flow of electrical sig - increased risk for sudden cardiac Tests That Predict Risk nals through the heart and paces arrest, consult your physician who There are a number of tests that can the heart to see if arrhythmias can can help determine your risk and be performed to determine if some - be induced. The physician can give you options to reduce the one is in a group that is at high risk also determine if a patient has had for cardiac arrest. These include: a prior heart attack or evidence of likelihood of becoming a victim. prior heart damage without know - Echocardiogram – a painless test ing it. All of this information can in which ultrasound waves are to be very effective in reducing help determine whether the patient cardiac arrest. These medications used to create a moving picture of is in a group at higher risk for SCD. the heart. The test can measure are sometimes taken by patients the strength of the heart’s pumping Prevention who also have an ICD, in order to reduce how often it fires. function (ejection fraction) and There are a number of things peo - identify other problems that may ple can do to decrease the likeli - Implantable cardioverter defibrilla - increase a person’s risk for SCD. hood of becoming a victim of tors (ICDs) – These devices have sudden cardiac death. To begin Electrocardiogram – A painless test been very successful in preventing with, living a “heart healthy” life in which electrodes are attached to sudden cardiac death in high-risk can help reduce the chances of the patient’s chest to record the patients. Like a pacemaker, ICDs dying of cardiac arrest or other electrical activity of the heart in are implanted under the skin. heart conditions. This includes ex - order to identify abnormal heart Wires called leads run from the ercising regularly, eating healthful rhythms. Certain arrhythmias could ICD to the heart, and the device foods, maintaining a reasonable point to an increased risk of SCD. monitors the heart to detect any weight, and avoiding smoking. abnormal rhythms. If a dangerous Holter monitor – A cell phone-size arrhythmia is detected, the ICD Treating and monitoring diseases recorder that patients attach to delivers an electrical shock to re - and conditions that can contribute their chest for one to two days, store the heart’s normal rhythm to heart problems, including high recording a longer sampling of and prevent sudden cardiac blood pressure, high cholesterol, their heart rhythm. After the death. The ICD can also act like a and diabetes, is also important. recorder is removed, the tape is pacemaker if the heart is beating analyzed for signs of arrhythmia. Finally, for some patients, prevent - too slowly. ing sudden cardiac death means Event recorder – a pager-sized de - Catheter Ablation – In this tech - controlling or stopping the abnor - vice that also records the electrical nique, radiofrequency energy mal heart rhythms that may trigger activity of the heart over a longer (heat), cryotherapy (freezing), or ventricular fibrillation. Treating ar - period of time. Unlike a holter moni - other energy forms are used to rhythmias is done in three ways: tor, it does not operate continuously. destroy small areas of heart muscle Instead, patients activate the de - Medications – Medications, includ - that cause the dangerous, rapid vice whenever they feel their heart ing ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, heart rhythms. The energy is beating too quickly or chaotically. calcium channel blockers, and delivered through catheters that antiarrhythmics, can control abnor - are positioned through the veins or Electrophysiology study (EPS) – mal heart rhythms or treat other arteries to the heart. Catheter abla - This test is performed in a hospital. conditions that may contribute to tion is sometimes done in patients A local anesthetic is used to numb heart disease or SCD. But taking who have an ICD to decrease the areas in the groin or neck and thin medication alone has not proved frequency arrhythmias the number flexible wires called catheters are of ICD shocks. .
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