Is it possible to prevent sudden death? – primary prevention

Primary prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) includes both prevention of cardiac disease and optimal medical therapy once a cardiac disease has been recognized. To discuss all these measures in detail would be beyond the scope of this chapter. Antiarrhythmic drugs and the automated external defibrillator are discussed in separate chapters of this book. This chapter summarizes primarily current knowledge on the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for primary prevention of sudden death (Figure 4.1).