[Sudden cardiac death--an assessment of pre-hospital proceedings]. / Nagly zgon sercowy--ocena postepowania przedszpitalnego.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) constitutes 13-18.5% of all natural deaths. This problem is socially and economically important because it affects often young people who are still professionally active. Many factors connected with the survival of the patients are beyond the emergency services' scope of operation. Patients do not often take seriously symptoms which occur before SCD. It has been estimated that about 40% of SCD took place without any witnesses. The witnesses, if present, cannot identify SCD and they do not supply any resuscitation. Additionally, ventricular fibrillation is getting the rare cause of cardiac arrest. The aforesaid situations, at the very beginning are responsible for the ineffectiveness of the resuscitation supplied by the emergency services.