TimmyHInternal External Defibrillator
December 2nd 2008 02:28
A new device may offer a safer way to jump-start ailing hearts.
Six people in New Zealand have become the first to be implanted with a novel form of cardiac defibrillator that could radically change the way that people with life-threatening heart conditions are treated.
The new device, developed by Cameron Health, in San Clemente, CA, functions much as normal defibrillators do, shocking the heart to stop dangerous heart rhythms or to restart it if it stops beating. But unlike traditional devices--which are known as implantable cardioversion defibrillators, or ICDs--Cameron's device delivers a shock from outside the heart rather than from electrical leads inserted into it.
"We think there's a big advantage of not having to put the lead into the heart, because sooner or later that lead is going to have to come out," says Warren Smith, the cardiologist who carried out the implantations at Auckland City Hospital and Green Lane Hospital, in New Zealand.
By Duncan Graham-Rowe
Really Long Link
Six people in New Zealand have become the first to be implanted with a novel form of cardiac defibrillator that could radically change the way that people with life-threatening heart conditions are treated.
Internal External Defibrillator
"We think there's a big advantage of not having to put the lead into the heart, because sooner or later that lead is going to have to come out," says Warren Smith, the cardiologist who carried out the implantations at Auckland City Hospital and Green Lane Hospital, in New Zealand.
By Duncan Graham-Rowe
Really Long Link
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