Title : A low-cost, automatic, external defibrillator and pacemaker for home/office to prevent sudden cardiac death
Abstract:
S udden cardiac death(SCD)-caused by ventricular fibrillation(VF) or standstill- occurs in about 1000 persons/day in US alone. Since survival drops by 10% for every minute delay- no ambulance in the world will be quick enough to save them. The existing AEDs, that are now distributed in public places are not a good solution for home-use, due to their high cost for battery and capacitor not needed in TED. AICDs inserted surgically-are very expesive and risky and help only in few patients. Our TED device modifies by computer the sinusoidal alternating electrical current from the mains to a biphasic defibrillatory wave and its cost-affordable to every household. In addition -it can pace the heart in case bradycardia or standstill caused SCD or it occurred after the electric shock.. In order to prove the safety and feasibility of TED -we performed 2 animal experiments: in the first-we used 5 pigs:repeated defibrillation of stable VF after 15 seconds was applied by TED or by a standard AED. Defibrillation was successful by both devices and thresholds were found to be similar. The second experiment used a rat model: six rats, underwent a mid LAD coronary closure and 3 months later VF was induced and TED defibrillation and external pacing was successfully achieved using TED in all ,at a heart rate above their rate, for an unlimited time before and after defibrillation. We conclude that modified alternating shock delivered by our device-TED- is feasible and as effective as that of the standard AED. This low-cost new technology should be used to prevent sudden cardiac arrest occurring at home/office.
Audience Take Away:
• The audience will become aware of the biggest unmet meet in medicine:the huge toll of sudden cardiac death and the lack of predictive and efficient strategies to prevent them.
• The proposed immediate low-cost home-defibrillation ,if implemented in AEDs and combined with new wearable pulse sensor devices-is the only strategy that will be successful
