Definitions for "Sudden cardiac death"
Death resulting from an abrupt loss of heart function (cardiac arrest). According to the American Heart Association, over 250,000 people die each year from cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest patients are twice as likely to survive in places where defibrillators are publicly available and volunteers have been trained to use them.
When untreated electrical problems in the heart cause death. Sudden cardiac death is usually caused by heart rhythms that are too fast. This condition is also called "cardiac arrest." Sudden cardiac death is different from a heart attack, which is caused when blood flow is interrupted and the heart is damaged.
the abrupt loss of heart's pumping ability due to rhythm dysfunction(ventricular fibrillation), can cause death within minutes after onset.