Sudden cardiac death – what do we know and how do we prevent it?

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important clinical problem with a complex and multifactor background. Trends in its prevention have been dynamically developing over the last decades. Patients with ischemic heart disease, especially after myocardial infarction, represent the largest group at an elevated risk of SCD. Many congenital and hereditary diseases are associated with an increased risk of SCD, particularly among young people. Although far from perfect, left ventricular ejection fraction remains the only widely recognized, relatively objective and credible method of assessing the risk of SCD among patients with heart failure. Other methods for assessing the risk are waiting for the final confirmation of their usefulness in clinical trials. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and its newer version – totally subcutaneous S-ICD – remain the most effective methods of SCD prevention. The only class of drugs with well-proven efficiency in most patients at risk of SCD is β-blockers.