Heart Disease - Top 10 Advances of the Millenium (well,
so far)
7) Automated external defibrillators gain approval
Two major studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in October, 2000, demonstrated conclusively that automated external defibrillators (AEDs) save lives. In one of these reports, during a 2-year pilot study in which AEDs were placed on passenger jetliners, 14 patients with ventricular fibrillation were successfully diagnosed and treated with AEDs. In the second study, AEDs were placed in a number of casinos – and over 100 patients were treated in a 32-month period.
As a result of these and similar studies, President Clinton proposed the addition of AEDs to federal buildings and airplanes, and in November signed legislation aimed at improving access to AEDs in public places.
Over 300,000 people die suddenly from ventricular arrhythmias each year in the United States. The wide availability of AEDs has the potential to make a dent in this startling statistic. More importantly, public awareness of the problem of sudden cardiac death will increase exponentially. Since the technology to prevent many of these sudden deaths already exists (with both AEDs and with implantable defibrillators), public demand for greater application of this technology is the real key to saving many of these lives.
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