Abstract
Coronary heart disease (CHD) can present as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or sudden death. Reduction of this latter presentation remains one of the most important challenges in cardiology. Sudden death is now recognised as a distinct entity and has been variously defined. A practical definition is “unexpected cardiac death occurring without symptoms or with symptoms of less than 1 hour’s duration”. Two-thirds of all deaths associated with CHD occur outside of hospital without prior symptoms or with symptoms of very short duration. Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of mortality in 20–64 year olds. The mode of death is arrhythmic and it may occur in the absence or associated with evidence of acute myocardial infarction (Cobb et al. 1980).
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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Lorimer, A.R., Hillis, W.S. (1985). Sudden Death. In: Cardiovascular Disease. Treatment in Clinical Medicine. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3120-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3120-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-15426-6
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