Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, New Insights and Current Controversies

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a dynamic and unexpected event that remains a major and global public health problem. In Japan, 60,000-70,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occur annually. There is considerable prognostic and therapeutic importance in identifying the cause of SCA. The majority of SCA conforms to stereotypical patterns of structural or coronary heart disease. However, a minority remains elusive to standard testing and requires further provocative testing and advanced imaging, revealing latent forms of structural disease and primary electric diseases. Even so, a significant proportion of these remain undiagnosed. The persisting low survival rates following SCA continue to emphasize that achievement of efficient risk stratification and primary prevention must remain our major target for management of SCA. In this plenary session, new insights into SCA is emerging from epidemiological, clinical, and genetic research.