Sudden Cardiac Death in Ischemic Heart Disease: Pathophysiology and Risk Stratification

Nabil El-Sherif; Mohamed Boutjdir; Gioia Turitto

doi:10.1016/j.ccep.2017.08.003

Sudden Cardiac Death in Ischemic Heart Disease: Pathophysiology and Risk Stratification

Card Electrophysiol Clin. 2017 Dec;9(4):681-691. doi: 10.1016/j.ccep.2017.08.003.

Authors

Nabil El-Sherif¹, Mohamed Boutjdir², Gioia Turitto³

Affiliations

¹ State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA; New York Harbor VA Healthcare System, 800 Poly Place, Brooklyn, NY 11209, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² New York Harbor VA Healthcare System, 800 Poly Place, Brooklyn, NY 11209, USA.
³ New York Presbyterian - Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

PMID: 29173410
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccep.2017.08.003

Abstract

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for approximately 360,000 deaths annually in the United States. Ischemic heart disease is the major cause of death in the general adult population. SCD can be due to arrhythmic or nonarrhythmic cardiac causes. Arrhythmic SCD may be caused by ventricular tachyarrhythmia or pulseless electrical activity/asystole. This article reviews the most recent pathophysiology and risk stratification strategies for SCD, emphasizing electrophysiologic surrogates of conduction disorder, dispersion of repolarization, and autonomic imbalance. Factors that modify arrhythmic death are addressed.

Keywords: Biomarkers of sudden cardiac death; Electrophysiologic surrogates of sudden cardiac death; Genomics of sudden cardiac death; Noninvasive variables of sudden cardiac death.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Arrhythmias, Cardiac
Death, Sudden, Cardiac*
Humans
Myocardial Ischemia*
Risk Factors
United States / epidemiology