1. What is sudden death? A correct identification / Jorge A. Salerno-Uriarte, Cecilia Fantoni and Raffaella Marazzi -- 2. Sudden cardiac death : the size of the problem / Alessandro Capucci and Daniela Aschieri -- 3. Pathophysiology of sudden death : electrophysiologic mechanism in different clinical conditions / Paolo Della Bella and Stefania Riva -- 4. Is it possible to prevent sudden death? : primary prevention / Kristina Wasmer, Gunter Breithardt and Lars Eckardt -- 5. The pharmacologic approach to patients at risk of sudden cardiac death : not only antiarrhythmic drugs / Giuseppe Boriani. [et al.] -- 6. Heart failure and sudden cardiac death : an unsolved problem / Benjamin J. Rhee, Jeanne E. Poole and Gust H. Bardy -- 7. Early defibrillation program : the future of public defibrillation / Alessandro Capucci and Daniela Aschieri -- 8. New guidelines on first aid in cardiac arrest / Alessandro Capucci and Daniela Aschieri -- 9. Post-resuscitation care / Erga L. Cerchiari and Federico Semeraro -- 10. Sudden death in children and adolescents / Nicola Carano and Umberto Squarcia -- 11. Inherited arrhythmia : present and future perspectives for genetic therapy / Silvia G. Priori and Carlo Napolitano.