Automated defibrillators save gamblers
People without formal medical
training can be taught to effectively use portable, computerised devices, which detect
ventricular fibrillation and deliver electricity to restore a normal
heart rhythm in people who
have a cardiac arrest, according
to two studies in the New
England Journal of Medicine
(2000;343:1206,1210).
Automated external defibrillators are portable and easy to use (PRNEWSFOTO/SURVIVAL)
Dr T D Valenzuela and colleagues at the University of Arizona found that 53% of 105
people treated with an automated external defibrillator (AED)
by security guards in casinos survived and were discharged from
hospital. The survival rate rose
to 74% for people who were
treated within three minutes
after collapse.
Another study by Dr R L
Page and colleagues at the
Southwestern Medical Center at
the University of Texas found a
40% survival rate for 15 people
who were treated by flight attendants. They also found that
AEDs could be effectively used
to monitor heart rhythms in
people who were not in ventricular defibrillation.
An estimated 225 000
episodes of sudden cardiac
arrest occur outside a hospital in
the United States. Only 2-5% of
people are successfully revived,
according to the president of the
American Heart Association
(AHA), Rose Marie Robertson.
The AHA has called for
widespread distribution of AEDs
in ambulances, fire trucks, police
cars, public buildings, sports arenas, theatres, airports, and airliners. "Taken together, these studies provide strong evidence that trained personnel can intervene
effectively when witnessed cardiac arrest is due to ventricular
fibrillation," Dr Robertson said.
Negin Shamsian, London
studentBMJ 2000;08:435-476 December ISSN 0966-6494
