Responses to Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Unlike many other medical conditions, survival from SCA, depends on immediate intervention by bystanders. These individuals are typically laypersons with no medical training who lack an understanding about their vital role in determining whether people who experience SCA live or die.

Immediate treatment for Sudden Cardiac Arrest involves cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to help keep blood pumping. A shock from either an automated external defibrillator (AED) or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is also necessary to shock the heart back to normal rhythm. If a patient has an ICD, CPR is not required to terminate SCA. However, it should be noted that people who have an ICD do not always recover from SCA.

Please click here to learn more about ICD therapy or click here to learn more about CPR and AED therapies.