By Carmen Phillips Hands down, cardiovascular disease is the leading killer in the United States. Each year in this country, nearly one million deaths are directly attributed to some form of heart disease. Approximately 350,000 of these are sudden cardiac deaths, and three-quarters of those are due to electrical disturbances in the heart known as arrhythmias.
Arrhythmias are abnormal heart rhythms.
They arise from either the lower chambers of the heart, the ventricles, or the upper chambers, the atria. In fact, rapid rhythms from the lower chamber are the leading cause of sudden death. Studies have shown that this is really a very effective means of preventing sudden death. Joan Steindl had her first ICD implanted in 1994. She suffered from both fast heart beats, or tachycardia, and slow heart beats, or brachycardia.