Smart Defibrillators (AED's) May Cause More Deaths Than Old Defibrilators

Smart Defibrillators (AED's) May Cause More Deaths Than Old Defibrilators

A new study reveals that a move among many hospitals to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) may be contributing to a higher rate of fatalities than would have been the case with older defibrillators. About 1000 patients are said to die annually thanks to AEDs.

Defibrillation is the stimulation of the heart with a therapeutic stream of current between two electrodes. The purpose is to recalibrate a normal heart beat for an individual suffering from cardiac arrhythmia or other similar conditions. Some arrhythmias are "nonshockable" rhythms, meaning they are not amenable to defibrillation. These include asystole, or flatlines. In the interest of telling between nonshockable and shockable rhythms, a professional would normally be required to use an external defibrillator. AEDs were invented to act as smart defibrillators, so anyone can use them in case of emergency. However, the results are not encouraging.

Part of the reason for AEDs' weak performance is the time it takes to apply the AED's pads to the patient from the moment the AED is accessed: 46 to 52 seconds. With only a few minutes to save a patient's life, this has proven to be too long of a time span.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, tracked 11,700 patients with cardiac arrests across the United State from 2000 to 2008. Patients survived 16.3% of the time when AEDs were used, but survived 19.3% of the time when AEDs were not used. When controlling for just shockable rhythms, AEDs saved 38.4%, compared with the 39.8% survivability rate without AEDs.


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