As of June, 2011 the American Heart Association has estimated that approximately 383,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) occur each year (1), and approximately only 8% of OHCA victims survive (2). Currently, for patients with ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT), early intervention, like defibrillation appears to be the most promising path to survival. Unfortunately, the majority of OHCA victims do not receive this intervention in a timely manner.
Early defibrillation can reestablish a normal heart rhythm in victims suffering from VF and VT. To attain early defibrillation for OHCA, use of a home defibrillator or an automated external defibrillator (AED) by an emergency personal or community responder may occur. An AED is a portable device, which may be used by nonmedical community members, and is capable of checking a victim’s heart rhythm and delivering an electric shock if necessary. When defibrillation is used within the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival increases to 80%-100%, but the time it takes for medical personnel to arrive and respond to OHCA can be too long (3).
Therefore, it is vital for bystanders to act and defibrillate a person in cardiac arrest using an AED as soon as possible.
1.) "CPR Statistics." CPR Statistics. American Heart Association, 12 Sept. 2012.
Web. <http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/WhatisCPR/CPRFactsandStats/CPR-Statistics_UCM_307542_Article.jsp>.
2.) McNally, B. "Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest Surveillance --- Cardiac Arrest Registry to
Enhance Survival (CARES), United States, October 1, 2005--December 31, 2010."
National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, 29 July 2011. Web. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21796098
3.) Gundry, John W. "Comparison of Naive Sixth-Grade Children
With Trained Professionals in the Use of an Automated External Defibrillator."
Circulation. American Heart Association, 1999. Web. <http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/100/16/1703.full>.