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Johns Hopkins Health Alert

After a Heart Attack -- Should You Have a Home Defibrillator?

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Heart Health | Benefits of Home Defibrillator

  • People most likely to benefit from having a home defibrillator are those with known risk factors for cardiac arrest.

A defibrillator delivers a jolt of energy into the chest to jump-start the heart and reverse sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is caused by an electrical malfunction of the heart that produces a fatally abnormal heart rhythm: The heart quivers and stops pumping blood, and the victim loses consciousness. Cardiac arrest differs from a heart attack, but it is triggered by a heart attack in about half the cases.

Some 80% of sudden cardiac arrests occur in the home. Normal ambulance delays are dangerous in such cases because survival chances drop about 10% every minute that passes without defibrillation. A home defibrillator can be lifesaving.

The home defibrillator tells a user with voice prompts where and how to apply two pads to shock the heart back to normal rhythm. If the problem is not cardiac arrest—and thus cannot be treated with an electrical shock—the defibrillator will not deliver one.

People most likely to benefit from having a home defibrillator are those with known risk factors for cardiac arrest. These include blocked coronary arteries, heart failure, and certain inherited heart abnormalities.

The FDA has approved the Philips HeartStart home defibrillator for use without a prescription. HeartStart costs about $2,000 and is typically not covered by insurance.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Heart Health | Benefits of Home Defibrillator

Posted in Heart Health on May 21, 2006
Reviewed June 2008

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