Pathophysiology and Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is known to occur in individuals with diverse diseases. Each disease state has a specific etiology and pathophysiology, and is diagnosed and treated differently. Etiologies for SCD include cardiac arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, congenital coronary artery anomalies, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, dilated cardiomyopathy, and aortic valve stenosis. A potential unifying mechanism of SCD in these diseases involves a massive stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system’s stress response and the subsequent elevation of circulating catecholamines. The diagnosis of cardiac diseases that contribute to an increased risk for SCD is accomplished by a combination of different techniques including electrocardiography, echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and invasive cardiac catheterization. Several therapies including antiarrhythmic drugs, β-blockers, and antiplatelet agents may be used as medical treatment in patients for the prevention of SCD. Invasive therapies including percutaneous angioplasty, coronary artery bypass surgery, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are also used in the clinical management of SCD.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author