A Device To Curb Heart Attacks

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 22, 1998 / 11:52 AM EDT / CBS

Although most non-physicians may believe that they have little means in aiding someone who is having a heart attack, CBS News Health Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports that a new device can help.

Each year, more than 350,000 people die from heart attacks before they reach a hospital. Now, 22 states have laws aimed at lowering that number by making it legal for people other than doctors to treat cardiac arrest using portable defibrillators -- machines that release an electric shock strong enough to jumpstart the heart.

Until recently, if someone went into cardiac arrest in an office, there would have been little a co-worker could do. Now, a trained officemate using a portable defibrillator may be able to stabilize the victim's heart while waiting for an ambulance. Across the country, businesses are incorporating the machines into their first aid kits.

The devices are called automated external defibrillators, or AEDs for short. The machines are light, and according to manufacturers, easy to use.

SurVivaLink's defribrillator.

SurVivaLink, one company that makes the device, provides instructions on the inside lid of their AED. An illustration and text show the reader where to place the electrodes on the heart attack sufferer's chest. The defibrillator is designed to determine whether a shock is needed, and if CPR is necessary. A button, when pressed, administers the electric shock.

The AED has built-in safety mechanisms. If the electrodes are not placed improperly or if the machine detects a normal heartbeat, it will not emit a shock.

The American Heart Association (AHA) supports the use of AEDs by laypeople and estimates that wide usage of the defibrillators could save more than 200,000 lives a year.

AEDs range in cost from $2,500 to $3,000, so not everyone will be able to afford one. Most states require that anyone allowed to use a defibrillator take a course taught or sanctioned by the AHA or by the Red Cross. The class teaches how to properly use the machine and CPR techniques.

Reported by Dr. Emily Senay