Record Status This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database. Citation Lifevest system (Asahi Kasei Corp.) wearable cardiac defibrillator for prevention of sudden cardiac arrest. Lansdale: HAYES, Inc.. Healthcare Technology Brief Publication. 2012 Authors' conclusions Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is typically defined as unanticipated death due to cardiac causes that occurs within 1 hour of the onset of acute symptoms. Approximately 287,000 people in the United States die each year from heart disease without being admitted to the hospital. The overwhelming majority of SCDs from heart disease are thought to be caused by ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is rapid, uncoordinated twitching of the ventricle that replaces normal heart rhythm and may lead to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Early defibrillation, the restoration of the normal heart rhythm through drug treatment or through electrical shocks delivered by an implanted or external device, is instrumental in surviving an episode of ventricular fibrillation, and survival drops to only 5% for interventions given 10 minutes or more after the start of the abnormal rhythm. Indexing Status Subject indexing assigned by CRD MeSH Death, Sudden, Cardiac; Defibrillators; Humans Language Published English Country of organisation United States English summary An English language summary is available. Address for correspondence HAYES, Inc., 157 S. Broad Street, Suite 200, Lansdale, PA 19446, USA. Tel: 215 855 0615; Fax: 215 855 5218 Email: hayesinfo@hayesinc.com AccessionNumber 32012000595 Date abstract record published 18/08/2012 |