Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) refer to the sudden cessation of cardiac mechanical activity with hemodynamic collapse, often due to sustained pulseless ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation. These events mostly occur in patients with evidence for ischemia due to coronary artery disease, disease of the myocardium (due to hypertrophy, fibrosis, scar replacement, or other myocardial abnormality that may or may not have been previously diagnosed), valvular abnormalities, or congenital channelopathies. The event is referred to as SCA if an intervention (e.g., defibrillation) or spontaneous reversion of the heart rhythm restores circulation. The event is called SCD if the patient dies.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD), and congenital channelopathies (long QT) are the most important causes of death reported in the young, and about 25% of these cases occur during sports.

Since the works of Drezner, we know that survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is critically dependent on prompt recognition, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and access to early defibrillation. Several studies have demonstrated improved survival with the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) by trained or untrained lay responders within the first minutes following SCA [1] as well as effective hard and fast external chest compressions.

Another fact evident is the necessity to have a well-organized emergency action plan if we want to improve the ability to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims in the athlete population and public assistants. The placement of AEDs in training fields and training of persons that work with athletes have become the cornerstone of emergency response planning and the prevention of sudden cardiac death in young athletes [1–4].

Drezner concluded that high school AED programs demonstrate a high survival rate (72%) either for students (85%) or adults (61%) who suffer SCA on school campuses. For those who went into SCA during physical activity, the survival rate was the same: of 18 student-athletes, 16 (89%) survived to hospital discharge, as did eight of nine (89%) adults who were arrested during physical activity. The reason seems quite obvious – the survival rate seems to be more dependent on the response time to defibrillation than the underlying pathology which is obviously very different in young athletes or in adults over 35 years of age [2].

The ability to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims is a critical component of health-related topics in the athlete population. Even with screening, there will remain people who experience sudden cardiac arrest. An effective resuscitation strategy requires multiple elements, including planning for an event, appropriate team members who can provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), rapid availability of AEDs and other life-saving emergency medical equipment, as well as immediate telephone calls to the nearest emergency medical service (EMS).