Research finds reasons for sudden cardiac death in patients with stable ischemic disease

In the current issue of Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications (Special Issue on Stable Ischemic Heart Disease, Volume 3,Number 3, 2019, pp. 317-319(3); DOI: https://doi.org/10.15212/CVIA.2016.0007 C. Richard Conti from the University of Florida Medical School, Gainesville, FL, USA considers sudden cardiac death in adult patients with stable ischemic heart disease.

Sudden death in patients with stable ischemic heart disease is not a common occurrence and is sparsely reported. There are approximately one half million patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) in the United States. Patients with stable ischemic heart disease who die suddenly do not maintain a Stable Ischemic profile. Benchimol, et al., reported 319 consecutive stable angina patients without clinical heart failure or a recent myocardial infarction but who had multiple risk factors and proven coronary disease which made them more prone to acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina. In the APSIS (angina prognosis in Stockholm) study, Hjemdahl reported that signs of ischemia or previous manifestations of coronary artery disease, i.e., myocardial infarction or revascularization, were found in 69% of both male and female patients at baseline. Little, retrospectively reported that minor plaques may disrupt and result in unstable angina or occlusive coronary disease which then may result in acute myocardial infarction. Stable angina patients, by definition, are stable and are not high risk unless they have multiple factors or which may make them prone to evolve an acute coronary syndrome or develop a serious arrhythmia but sudden death does occur in some patients.