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Global Cardiovascular Strategies
OUT-OF-HOSPITAL EARLY DEFIBRILLATION TO PREVENT SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH:
PIACENZA PROGETTO VITA
Alessandro Capucci, Daniela Aschieri, Alessandro Rosi, Italy
Divisione di Cardiologia, Ospedale Civile, Piacenza, Italy
Proceedings on 14th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS" OF ARRHYTHMIAS 2000
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) claims an estimated 350000 lives per year in the United States, representing a major public health problem. In Europe 40% of all death of individuals who are 25-74 years of age are caused by cardiovascular disease. More people die each day of potentially reversible ventricular fibrillation (VF) than of any other cause of death, reversible or not.
Studies have clearly demonstrated that survival rates are high when defibrillation treatment is administered within the first few minutes following SCA. In three studies of cardiac arrest occurring in supervised cardiac rehabilitation centers more than 90 percent of victims were successfully resuscitated and patients were discharged from the hospital1,2.
Unfortunately, most cardiac arrest does not occur in supervised places and in more typical community settings; victims of SCD rarely survive. Only 2-5 percent of victims of SCA can be resuscitated with the commonly used emergency system of ambulances. The problem can be resolved not by reducing furthermore the time of ambulance intervention but getting available defibrillation to lay person.
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