Understanding sudden cardiac arrest

Coronary artery disease is the underlying cause of most cases of sudden cardiac arrest, which means the heart abruptly and unexpectedly stops beating. Most heart attacks do not lead to cardiac arrest. But sometimes, the heart’s ventricles quiver rapidly and irregularly during a heart attack, and this lethal rhythm causes most sudden cardiac arrests. Heart attack survivors who experienced significant muscle damage are also at risk for cardiac arrest. Other possible causes of cardiac arrest include inherited abnormalities of the heart’s electrical pathways or structural changes in the heart, such as those caused by heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).