Have we Made Any Progress in Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death in the Community? A Review on Automatic External Defibrillators

Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) have been recognised lately as an important link in the chain of survival of patients experiencing Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) still remaining a major public health problem in the Western countries, being responsible for more than 250,000 out-of-hospital deaths annually. Due to the fact that survival rates following SCA are still unacceptably poor and that in most of the cases the underlying heart rhythm in out-of-hospital SCA is Ventricular Fibrillation/ pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia, introduction of AEDs seems to open a new prospective. Since the early 1990’s, when first launched, significant improvement has been made in AEDs technology and in many countries Public Access Defibrillation programs are now widespread. After minimal training, lay rescuers and first responder who might not be health professionals effectively provide early defibrillation using AEDs, resulting in many cases in improved survival rates. In the present paper we review the status of AEDs in clinical practice in the year of 2010 emphasizing on their key role for the widespread prevention of sudden cardiac death in the community.