August 1, 2023EP Europace63 citationsOpen Access
View Full PaperRisk stratification of sudden cardiac death: a review
Structured PICO
P
Population
Individuals at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), including those with specific primary electric diseases such as long QT syndrome and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia
I
Intervention
Disease-specific risk stratification and treatment strategies (lifestyle advice, drugs, primary prevention ICD, ventricular ablation, left cardiac sympathetic denervation)
This review provides an overview of risk stratification and prevention strategies for sudden cardiac death based on underlying heart disease.
Abstract
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is responsible for several millions of deaths every year and remains a major health problem. To reduce this burden, diagnosing and identification of high-risk individuals and disease-specific risk stratification are essential. Treatment strategies include treatment of the underlying disease with lifestyle advice and drugs and decisions to implant a primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and perform ablation of the ventricles and novel treatment modalities such as left cardiac sympathetic denervation in rare specific primary electric diseases such as long QT syndrome and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. This review summarizes the current knowledge on SCD risk according to underlying heart disease and discusses the future of SCD prevention.