The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is dedicated to bringing you the latest news and developments in sudden cardiac arrest prevention and treatment.
Driving is Safe for ICD Patients
November 26, 2007–BOSTON–Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) pose no special risks for heart patients who drive, researchers report in the December 4th issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology. “What this confirms is what we already thought—that overall there is not a huge risk in this population,” said… Read More
America's Safest Airport?
Airline Employee, Passenger Save Holiday Traveler at Sky Harbor November 26, 2007–Phoenix, AZ–A 62-year-old man from Ohio was saved by a fellow passenger and an airline employee using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and an automated External Defibrillator (AED) while on board a plane departing Sky Harbor over the Thanksgiving… Read More
President Vetoes AED Funding
November 17, 2007–WASHINGTON, CD–The House of Representatives has failed to override President George W. Bush's Veto of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, which would have provided $ 2.5 million to fund the Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices Program. The appropriations would have included an allocation of $200,000 to fund an… Read More
British Survivor and MP Promotes AEDs on European Airlines
November 11, 2007–LONDON–A Member of Parliament (MP) who almost died on a plane is demanding new laws to force airlines to carry life-saving equipment. Liberal Democrat Paul Keetch was technically dead for seven minutes after having suffering cardiac arrest on a flight from London to a NATO meeting in the States. The cabin crew on the Virgin… Read More
Merck Agrees to $4.85 Billion Verdict Involving SCA Victims Who Used VIOXX
November 9, 2007–MONTGOMERY, AL–After more than five years of hard-fought and difficult litigation, Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion, the largest pharmaceutical settlement in history, to resolve certain VIOXX®-related claims involving plaintiffs who used the pain reliever and suffered a stroke, a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest. The… Read More
Women Have More Complications from ICD Therapy than Men
November 8, 2007–ORLANDO–Women have nearly a 70 percent greater risk of suffering major in-hospital complications than men after implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator, researchers reported here. “We found that major complications occurred about 1.1 percent of the time in men and 2 percent of the time in women," Pamela Peterson… Read More
University of Pittsburgh Cardiologists Identify New Cardiac Arrest Gene
November 8, 2007–PITTSBURGH–Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a new gene responsible for a rare, inherited form of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), known as Brugada syndrome. Brugada syndrome is a rare inherited arrhythmia, which is more commonly symptomatic in males. It can present with an… Read More
RethinQ: CRT Does Not Benefit HF Patients with Narrow QRS
November 7, 2007–ORLANDO–Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) failed to provide any clinical benefit in heart failure (HF) patients with a “narrow” QRS interval and evidence of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony (1), the results of the Resynchronization Therapy in Normal QRS (RethinQ) trial reveal. CRT did not increase the primary… Read More
Survival from SCA Doubles when Public Has Access to AEDs
Study Supports Public Health Policies that Increase Access to AEDs November 5, 2007–ORLANDO–Researchers now have evidence that at least 522 lives can be saved annually in the United States and Canada by the widespread placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Results of the study, “Bystander-administered AED shock improves… Read More