Identification of persons at risk for sudden cardiac death.
Before any more progress is made in reducing the incidence of sudden cardiac death, our ability to identify those at risk must be refined further. The close association with coronary artery disease necessitates that the first step must be the identification of those with underlying coronary artery disease. This is underscored by the disturbing fact that, in many, sudden death is the first sign of coronary disease. An aggressive evaluation of those with significant risk factors appears justified. The second part of the problem is the identification of those with coronary artery disease who are at especially high risk. The current diagnostic modalities available suffer from a relative lack of specificity to be applied indiscriminately in light of the expense and morbidity of effective therapies (that is, coronary artery bypass surgery, antiarrhythmic drugs, implantable defibrillators, surgical or catheter ablation). At the present time, we can identify certain subsets that warrant aggressive therapy: survivors of sudden death events or sustained ventricular tachycardia, obstructive cardiomyopathies, aortic stenosis, left main coronary artery disease, and congenital QT prolongation. Less aggressive but also less specific therapies, such as beta-blockers in myocardial infarction survivors, can be given more indiscriminately. Ultimately, of course, the greatest impact will come from prevention of coronary artery disease.
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000150:complications; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000150:complications; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D044469:Racial Groups; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013177:Sports; D014434:Type A Personality