Chinanews, Guangzhou, November 12 – According to Huang Zitong, the director of the Institute of Heart, Lung and Brain of the Zhongshan University, nearly one million Chinese die of sudden death every year, taking up 5% of the total number of the deceased. Most of them are in their 40s.“An elder in his/her 60s or 70s usually has developed a collateral circulation system as his/her heart might have suffered from chronic blood shortage for long, but a middle-age person don’t have such a system, thus it is hard to save the lives of the young people who happen to fall victim to sudden cardiac death,” said Huang. Huang also suggested that one should take a good rest if one feels a pain in one’s chest or irregular heart beat after working long hours, or otherwise ask doctors for help.In Guangzhou alone, about 8,000 people die of sudden cardiac death every year, and in such cases, only 5 minutes are left for doctors to rescue attempt, as the brain will be irreversibly damaged if there is no blood supply for 5 minutes. That time is often not enough for ambulance to reach the site. Thus only less than 1% of the sudden cardiac death victims can be rescued in China.The Institute of Heart, Lung and Brain is working hard to build a multi-channel emergency handling system to save the lives of such victims, and its goal is to help at least 10% of them survive.