Dying Suddenly - Sudden Cardiac Death Defibrillation is the
delivery of an electric shock to the heart to cause the cells of
the heart to resynchronize. Defibrillation is depicted
frequently on television programs when medical personnel apply
paddles to the chest of an unconscious patient and deliver a
shock to revive him. In real life, the failure of that shock to
be delivered in a timely fashion means death to the unfortunate
patient. But defibrillators-devices capable of delivering the
shock- are not available everywhere. In fact, up to 80% of
victims who suffer a cardiac arrest outside the hospital do not
survive to be admitted to the hospital. If they do survive to
leave the hospital, the recurrence rate of SCD is up to 40% per
yearunless they are fortunate enough to receive an implantable
cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Prior to the introduction of
ICDs, antiarrhythmic drugs were given to patients with
ventricular tachycardia in an attempt to suppress recurrences of
the arrhythmia. But there were prob