The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is dedicated to bringing you the latest news and developments in sudden cardiac arrest prevention and treatment.
FDA Launches Initiative to Develop Innovative External Defibrillators
Safety concerns on the devices that treat abnormal heart rhythms also to be addressed The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced a program aimed at facilitating the development of safer, more effective external defibrillators used to treat abnormal heart rhythms through improved design and manufacturing practices. External… Read More
Survivors: Have a Few Minutes?
Do you have a few minutes to complete a brief survey? Lumei Tuomala, a third year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is conducting a survey on the quality of life experienced by people who survive sudden cardiac arrest. The study will also analyze differences among survivors less than 35 years of age, compared with… Read More
Saving Lives, Saving Data
The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is part of an international interdisciplinary group led by the EMS Safety Foundation that is developing a mobile phone application that provides CPR/AED instruction, real-time coaching in emergencies, the location of the nearest AED. The app also records resuscitation efforts for research purposes. The iRescU… Read More
Pittsburgh Police Officers Save Fellow Officer
PITTSBURGH -- Authorities are crediting two Allegheny County deputies for saving a McKeesport officer's life at the City County Building in downtown Pittsburgh on Monday. According to officials, Officer Todd Gebis fell down a set of stairs after going into cardiac arrest. Deputies Anthony Fratto and Scott McCarthy were nearby and gave Gebis CPR… Read More
Bystanders Help Save a Life
OTTAWA, CANADA--Bystanders helped save the life of a 67-year-old Ottawa man Saturday evening after he went into cardiac arrest at the Royal Canadian Legion in Barrhaven. Paramedics spokesman Steven Leu said paramedics received a call for a man having difficulty breathing just after 7 p.m. As they rushed to the scene, the man went into cardiac… Read More
The Research Supporting Compression-Only CPR
In the 2010 guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the American Heart Association (AHA) made several important changes including calling for chest compressions first before attempting rescue breathing. Evolving Guidelines For 40 years, the AHA promoted the A-B-Cs of CPR: airway, breathing, compressions. Now, it says C-A-B is the way… Read More
Comorbidities, Inadequate Training Result in More ICD Lead Dislodgements
Baltimore, MD--Implantable defibrillator leads are more likely to be dislodged from the myocardium if the patient has comorbidities or if the implanter is not a trained electrophysiologist, data from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) show. Dr Alan Cheng (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD) and colleagues analyzed 2,628 cases… Read More
Jamie Dixon Joins SCA Foundation Board of Directors
PITTSBURGH—The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation today announced that Jamie Dixon, Head Coach, University of Pittsburgh Men’s Basketball, has joined the organization’s Board of Directors as Honorary Chairman. Jamie, who was named 2010 Big East Coach of the Year and Jim Phalen National Coach of the Year, is a strong advocate for the Foundation’s… Read More
Primary ICD Implants May Not Benefit Seniors
Rome, Italy - New trials of prophylactic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy in seniors are needed, because the seminal studies of ICDs in heart-failure patients do not show a survival benefit in older patients, the authors of a new meta-analysis argue.Dr. Pasquale Santangelli (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy… Read More