Archive - Feb 2012

Anne Jennison, Lee, NH – 55 at time of event (2010)

It was exam time, a stressful period for teachers as well as students. Anne had survived the 50minute commute and was in her second class of the morning when she died. She was sitting at her desk while the high school freshmen finished their tests. Her face hit the table top and a couple of alert students rushed over to stop Anne from falling off her chair. They could see she was not conscious.

Boca Raton, FL –Atrus, Inc., owners of the National AED Registry™, announced that it has provided a customized version of its automated external defibrillator (AED) registry to the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium (MRC). 

The Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium, led by the University of Minnesota Cardiovascular Division, is dedicated to improving bystander response in sudden cardiac arrest events. Consortium Program Manager Kim Harkins commented “We see the Registry as part of the Consortium’s program in Minnesota to educate and inform citizens about sudden cardiac arrest, CPR, and the importance of public access to AEDs. The AED Registry will serve the community by ensuring that AEDs in public settings are ready to use and are accessible.” As more AEDs are registered, the Consortium hopes to use Registry information to identify gaps in AED placement and training in communities throughout Minnesota. 

My brother suffered a cardiac arrest on March 20, 2011. On March 25th he suffered another 10...yes ten arrests. He was in the cardiac ICU at the time, and thankfully the staff responded quickly to his needs. He had to shocked 150 times during this crisis. After this happened an Impella device was implanted to help with his heart recover. TO make a long story short, and also to keep from crying and having a flashback, my brother is at home and doing physically wonderful! My question to anyone what can my family do to help my sister in law cope with the stress at home? My sister in law has two children. My nephew is 3 and he has Down Syndrome, and my neice is 17 months old. She is constantly urging my brother to help with everything and demanding things be done. My brother tries his hardest and he seems that it is not enough. She did tell me he does get aggressive and impatient with her. He begins to yell at her and degrade her.

Would you be able to find an automated external defibrillator if someone's life depended on it? Despite an estimated one million AEDs scattered around the United States, the answer, all too often when people suffer sudden cardiac arrests, is no.

MIAMI - Underscoring the fact that children should not be treated as small adults, a study led by the Miller School’s Steven E. Lipshultz, professor and chair of pediatrics and executive associate dean for child health, found that less than 3 percent of children diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy die suddenly and unexpectedly.

The finding suggests that relatively few pediatric patients with weakened and enlarged hearts may benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), the battery-powered devices that, based on recommendations for adults, are routinely implanted in some of these children to prevent sudden cardiac death.

New guidelines outlining the causes and prevention of sudden death among athletes were released this week by the National Athletic Trainer's Association (NATA) in the United States.

"These guidelines were developed for any level of sports participation, and to truly help save a life," NATA President Marjorie Albohm said in an association news release. "It is also critical that a school, team or league's medical professionals have an emergency action plan in place. In the event that an injury occurs, every minute counts when it comes to appropriate care and transport of the athlete."

CLEVELAND - A fundamental discovery reported in the March 1st issue of the journal Nature, uncovers the first molecular evidence linking the body’s natural circadian rhythms to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Ventricular arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death: the primary cause of death from heart disease. They occur most frequently in the morning waking hours, followed by a smaller peak in the evening hours. While scientists have observed this tendency for many years, prior to this breakthrough, the molecular basis for these daily patterns was unknown.

The discovery will be the first step towards new diagnostic tools and therapies to prevent or treat the occurrence of this fatal event.

More than one-quarter of physicians surveyed never refer patients with the intent of consideration for a primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD),  including 7% of cardiologists, accoring to survey results published in Heart Rhythm. 

To determine concordance with primary prevention ICD guidelines from the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and Heart Rhythm Society, reserachres mailed surveys to a random national sample of 3,000 physicians. One third each specialized in general cardiology, internal medicine and family medicine. Fifteen percent surveyed believe ventreicular arrhythmias are required before a primary prevention ICD is indicated, 36% think an ejection fraction >40% warrants a primary prevention ICD and 25% would refer a patient for a primary prevention ICD within 40 days of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

SEATTLE – On Feb. 13-14, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) partnered with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Sports Cardiology Section, the Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES), other leading U.S. cardiologists, the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), and the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Center (F-MARC) in an effort to define ECG interpretation standards in athletes and develop a comprehensive online training module for physicians around the world to gain expertise in ECG interpretation and the proper evaluation of ECG abnormalities suggestive of a pathologic cardiovascular disorder.

Hosted by AMSSM 1st Vice President Jonathan Drezner, MD, the meeting in Seattle, Wash., brought together many of the world’s premier sports cardiologists and sports medicine physicians, including participants from the U.S., Italy, Sweden, U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, and Qatar.