Defibrillators Meet New Guidelines

Cardiac Science (Bothwell, WA, USA) announced today that its entire line of Powerheart automated external defibrillators (AEDs) will meet the recently released European Resuscitation Council's (ERC) new guidelines for resuscitation, as well as the newly updated American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC).

Powerheart AEDs incorporate Rescue Ready technology to assure functionality when needed to rescue a sudden cardiac arrest victim. Also incorporated into the defibrillators is the RHYTHMx analysis software, which detects life-threatening heart rhythms, as well as STAR biphasic shock technology that determines, based on each patient's unique physiology, the amount of defibrillation energy needed to successfully restore a victim's heartbeat.

Daily automatic self-testing for the presence and functionality of pre-connected defibrillation electrodes, a self-contained battery system with an integrated memory chip that automatically stores important operational history, and hardware components that help ensure reliability are also part of the automated process. Powerheart AEDs currently in use today are capable of being reconfigured to support the new guidelines, and software updates to implement the new guidelines will be available during 2006.

The new AHA guidelines contain recommendations designed to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest and acute life-threatening cardiopulmonary problems. The full guidelines, including the new recommended one-shock defibrillation protocol, are available on the AHA website (www.americanheart.org).




Related Links:
Cardiac Science
American Heart Association