Sudden Cardiac Death in Chronic Kidney Disease. The review discusses the epidemiology and
the possible underlying mechanisms of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in chronic kidney disease (CKD), and
highlights the unmet clinical need for noninvasive risk stratification strategies in these patients. Although
renal dysfunction shares common risk factors and often coexists with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,
the presence of renal impairment increases the risk of arrhythmic complications to an extent that cannot be
explained by the severity of the atherosclerotic process. Renal impairment is an independent risk factor for
SCD from the early stages of CKD; the risk increases as renal function declines and reaches very high levels
in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis. Autonomic imbalance, uremic cardiomyopathy, and
electrolyte disturbances likely play a role in increasing the arrhythmic risk and can be potential targets for
treatment. Cardioverter defibrillator treatment could be offered as lifesaving treatment in selected patients,
although selection strategies for this treatment mode are presently problematic in dialyzed patients. The
review also examines the current experience with risk stratification tools in renal patients and suggests that
noninvasive electrophysiological testing during dialysis may be of clinical value as it provides the necessary
standardized environment for reproducible measurements for risk stratification purposes.