Cardiac deaths like James Gandolfini's are too common  8:46 AM,
Jun 21, 2013   |    comments   • Share   • Print   • - A A A +
James Gandolfini  (USA TODAY/WZZM) - The news that James
Gandolfini, 51, star of The Sopranos, died of cardiac arrest
stunned his fans, but for medical experts, it was a reminder of
the thousands who remain at risk of a similar fate all the time.
Claudio Modini, head of the emergency room at the Policlinic
Umberto I hospital in Rome, said Gandolfini suffered a cardiac
arrest and was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. Wednesday after
resuscitation efforts in the ambulance and hospital failed. An
autopsy will be performed. Originally, it was reported that
Gandolfini died of a heart attack.  A heart attack may cause
cardiac arrest and sudden death. Heart attacks are caused by a
blockage that stops blood flow to the heart. Cardiac arrest is
an abrupt loss of heart function caused when the heart's
electrical system malfunctions. About 360,000 cardiac arrests
are assessed by emergency medical serv