What's the cardiac rhythm at the time of cardiac arrest? Disputed dogma or true fact?

Abstract

It was widely accepted that malignant ventricular arrhythmias (VA) are the main direct initial cause for cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death (SCD), but diverging data tended to demonstrate that asystole or pulseless activity were becoming the most prevalent cardiac rhythms at the time of cardiac arrest. We challenge here these conceptions and reinforce the persisting prominent role of VA in SCD.