Implantable Defibrillators Shown as Beneficial to Heart Patients
From Times staff reports
Implantable defibrillators implanted protectively in selected high-risk heart attack survivors increase two-year survival by 54% compared to conventional drug therapy, a multi-center team reports in the Dec. 26 New England Journal of Medicine. The defibrillators reverse life-threatening arrhythmias, and the team projected that as many as 80,000 high-risk heart attack patients annually--one in every 10 heart attack victims--could benefit from the treatment.
The defibrillators monitor the heart’s electrical activity and deliver corrective electrical impulses when an irregularly fast or chaotic heartbeat is detected.
