A leading cardiologist has come out in favour of at-home defibrillators for those at high risk of cardiac arrest.

It's estimated that every minute spent waiting for paramedics to arrive with a defibrillator reduces the chance of survival in cardiac arrest by ten per cent. The defibrillator is used to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm. An at-home version has recently been approved in the US and Dr P.K. Shah, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, is strongly in favour.

He says that it can be used by relatives and carers - once they are trained - of people who are at high risk of cardiac arrest. That would include those waiting for a heart transplant, or those in families where there's a history of sudden cardiac death. In homes where there is a defibrillator, everyone should be trained in cardiac resuscitation too. If someone has a cardiac arrest, says Dr Shah, call 911, than apply resuscitation and, if you have been trained, use the defibrillator. This approach should give the person affected the best chance of survival.

Source

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 3rd December 2002