[Resuscitation].

By the measures of basic life support (BLS) as well as those of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) a large portion of the 8,000 to 10,000 victims of sudden circulatory arrest in Switzerland might be resuscitated successfully without permanent neurological deficits. Prerequisites are an early installation of measures as well as the control of the rationale and the individual techniques by trained personnel. The single most important measure is electric defibrillation of ventricular fibrillation. With the aid of automatic defibrillators it can be made available to a wider range of users. Pharmacotherapy is of minor importance.