AEDs: the ‘shocking’ solution to cardiac arrest

According to theNew England Journal of Medicine, Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) claims more than 350,000 lives per year in the U.S. and is responsible for half of all deaths that are due to cardiovascular disease.

Many of these cases of sudden death occur in patients without identified risk factors or diagnosed disease, where cardiac arrest may be the first manifestation of an underlying problem.

Cardiac arrest is a sudden, abrupt loss of heart function. The unconscious victim is not breathing and has no pulse or blood pressure.

Although heart disease and heart attack can cause cardiac arrest, other causes include respiratory arrest, electrocution, drowning, choking and trauma.

It can also occur for no apparent reason and at any age in otherwise healthy people.

After suffering a cardiac arrest, a victim’s chance of survival decreases seven percent to 10 percent for each minute that passes without treatment.

Brain death starts to occur in just four to six minutes. After 10 minutes, there is little chance of survival.

Beginning CPR and using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) within a few minutes can make the difference between survival and death. As the use of AEDs spread nationwide, the out-of-hospital survival rate is improving.

No more rescue breathing?

Conventional CPR or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation consists of chest compressions and rescue breathing.

The American Heart Association continues to support this approach to CPR, but recent research demonstrates that rescue breathing may be unnecessary and potentially detrimental in cases of cardiac arrest.

In addition, the technical aspects of performing CPR and the delay between compressions and rescue breaths may limit the resuscitation effort.

Also, many people may be unwilling to perform rescue breathing on a stranger.

By comparison, continuous chest compressions (CCC) at the rate of 100 per minute have been shown to be more effective (Journal Watch Emergency Medicine, March 30) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest treatment, according to the March 30 edition of Journal Watch Emergency Medicine.

After experiencing cardiac arrest, a victim’s blood is still oxygenated for a short time. Starting continuous chest compressions immediately will help to maintain blood pressure and deliver remaining oxygen in the body to the brain. CCC should be continued until an AED can be retrieved and used to restart the heart or until paramedics arrive and take over.

The AED machine

The heart has a natural rhythm, but during a cardiac arrest, the heart sometimes develops a chaotic quivering known as ventricular fibrillation.

Delivering a shock to the heart with an AED stops this quivering so that the heart’s natural pacemaker can resume a regular rhythm and pump blood.

An AED is a smart machine applied externally to the chest. It will analyze the victim’s heart, detect ventricular fibrillation and instruct the operator how to treat the victim until paramedics arrive.

It is simple, designed for non-medically trained people, and safe to use.

The AED will not deliver a shock to a person who does not need one, so you cannot injure an individual.

There is no danger to the volunteer using the AED, although they should not touch the victim while applying the shock, nor touch metal or water along with the victim during the shock.

If you attempt to assist a victim, you are protected by the Good Samaritan Law in each state.

Your Help is Needed

Automated External Defibrillators are located at 12 GVR recreation centers.

GVR staff have been trained on their use, and all members are encouraged to attend the training that is offered every month.

Check your Keeping Current for dates and times and call GVR to register.

Rapid response, chest compressions and the AED are key to improving the survival rate for cardiac arrest in our community.

I encourage you to sign up for a class and learn how you can make a difference.

Local resident Ann Sirianni is a certified personal trainer at GVR. Contact her at 465-1221 or gvfitness@cox.net.