Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) occurs when the heart stops beating due to a malfunction in its electrical system. It is the leading cause of death in the United States. It is not the same as a heart attack (myocardial infarction), which is caused by a problem with the blood supply to the heart. Tomorrow, around one thousand people will suffer a Sudden Cardiac Arrest in the U.S., and only about 50 will survive. The tragedy is that most of these deaths are unnecessary.
The only treatment for Sudden Cardiac Arrest that has a significant success rate is defibrillation. This involves passing an electrical current through the heart to re-synchronize the electrical activity of the nerves and muscles of the heart. Defibrillation saves the patient's life in the majority of cases if given early enough, but only works effectively if given in the first five or ten minutes. Patients whose heart is re-started by defibrillation generally make a complete recovery and enjoy a good life expectancy. The majority of them are still alive five years later.
The graph above shows how vital it is to try to restart the heart within the first five minutes. The best way to do this is to defibrillate the victim on the spot. Some communities have made this a priority, such as Rochester, Minnesota, which has placed defibrillators in all police cars and first-response vehicles,and Seattle, whose Medic One program includes fast response to 911 calls and defibrillators in all fire department vehicles (though not police cars as yet). At the other end of the spectrum is New York, where traffic congestion and large buildings hamper access to victims. Bringing the survival rate in the U.S. as a whole up to the rate in Rochester would save over 100,000 lives per year.
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