Annals of internal medicine
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Of 133 persons with spontaneous cardiac arrest attended by paramedics within 10 minutes, 100 (75%) had ventricular fibrillation as the initial rhythm and 33 (25%) had extreme bradycardia or asystole. The latter group of arrhythmias was characterized by sinus arrest or severe sinus bradycardia (90%) and complete A-V block (10%). Junctional escape rhythm was also absent or markedly retarded. ⋯ Ventricular fibrillation developed in 11 cases (33%). One patient lived 12 days, but all others were dead on arrival or died in the emergency room. Among the 13 coronary causes of death proved at autopsy, 10 (77%) were due to a fresh thrombus and seven (54%) to an occluded proximal right coronary artery, suggesting a causal relation to this type of arrest.