ATLANTA, GA -- To further the effort of making Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson "the safest airport in the world" for cardiac events, officials announced that the airport has completed installation of 285 new Cardiac Science G5 AEDs—one every 75 feet—in every terminal.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport receives an average of 24 medical calls a day and deploys an automated external defibrillator approximately 10 times a month on average. The program will help ensure the safety of travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson by upgrading the AED fleet to the latest technology.

More people travel through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport every year than any other airport worldwide. That includes other major airports such as Chicago O'Hare, Beijing Capital International and London Heathrow. The probability that a traveler might experience a cardiac arrest on any given day is higher than at most public places which have less traffic.

Cardiac arrest occurs at a higher rate in children with heart disease than in healthy children.
The complexity and variability in pediatric heart disease pose unique challenges during resuscitation. A key message is the importance of individualizing resuscitation strategies for each patient’s cardiovascular anatomy and physiology.

Saving a child with heart disease whose heart has stopped requires a different approach than reviving a child with a healthy heart, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

Brugada syndrome trigger mechanism discovered: a software can electrically reprogram cells and prevent cardiac arrest

Allen J. Solomon, MD, has joined the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation Advisory Council. Dr. Solomon is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at The George Washington University. He completed his medical school training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1984. He then completed his training in Internal Medicine, including a Chief Resident year, at the University of Maryland Hospital. Following this, he completed fellowship training in Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1992, he joined the Division of Cardiology at Georgetown University. He became the Director of the Electrophysiology service, as well as the Director of the Cardiology Fellowship Program.

Researchers from the University of Southampton recently surveyed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) available for public use on the “Save a Life” AED locator mobile application in and around Southampton, UK, to determine the characteristics of AED signage. They evaluated 201 AEDs and found that 67 percent of sites had no signage, and when signage was provided, it was partially or severely obstructed in 41 percent of sites.

They concluded that current AED signage is poor and limits device effectiveness, since public awareness of the location of AEDs is impeded. They recommend promoting visible signage within the operational radius of each AED.

On June 6-7, 2015, at the Utstein Abbey near Stavanger, Norway, 36 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) leaders, researchers, and experts from throughout the world convened to address the challenge of how to increase community cardiac arrest survival and how to achieve implementation of best practices and worthwhile programs.

The attendees called for the establishment of a Global Resuscitation Alliance (GRA) and issued a report laying out ten programs to improve survival and ten steps to achieve successful implementation. The GRA expands internationally the reach and utility of the Resuscitation Academy concept developed in King County, Seattle since 2008. Such a global effort will promote best practices and offer help with implementation to countless communities.

The FDA announced a firmware update to certain Abbott (formerly St. Jude Medical) implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators with radiofrequency capabilities for home monitoring. The update, which must be done in the physician's office, addresses cybersecurity and rapid battery depletion.

ABBOTT PARK, IL--Abbott is releasing the latest in its planned series of cybersecurity and battery performance alert updates: a firmware upgrade to further strengthen the security and enhance the performance of certain high-voltage implantable cardiac devices. This series of updates began with Abbott’s pacemakers, programmers and remote monitoring systems in 2017.

Caffeine consumption linked to decreased rate of atrial fibrillation, arrhythmias

WASHINGTON, DC--Many clinicians advise patients with atrial or ventricular arrhythmias to avoid caffeinated beverages, but recent research has shown that coffee and tea are safe and can reduce the frequency of arrhythmias, according to a review published today in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.  

Emory University is joining researchers at 20 other hospitals across the country to conduct a study called ACCESS. The co-principal Investigators are Demetris Yannopoulos, MD, of the University of Minnesota and Tom Auferheide, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Emory has asked the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation to share information about the study with the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network, its community of survivors, family members and others, to find out what they think about the study. Community members are invited to take the survey at this link. Responses are due by May 7th.

Venkatesh Veeravalli, 29, a software engineer from New Brunswick, NJ, died suddenly from cardiac arrest on February 9th, leaving behind his 25-year-old wife, his parents, and many other family members and friends.

According to his family, “Venky” had fallen asleep that evening, but then awoke with breathing difficulties. First responders worked for over an hour, trying to revive him with CPR and a defibrillator. He was later transported to nearby Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. Unfortunately, however, he could not be resuscitated.

Family and friends were shocked and devastated, especially because Venky was “active, health conscious, and a regular at the gym.”