Implantable defibrillators linked to decline in cardiac arrests (Netherlands)

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators - small devices placed in the chest to detect potentially fatal heart rhythms - reduce the number of cardiac arrests caused by ventricular fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm, according to a new study. Researchers in the Netherlands estimate that the cardioverter defibrillators prevented 81 cardiac arrests related to ventricular fibrillation between 2005 and 2008 in greater Amsterdam. They further estimate that the devices accounted for one-third of the decline seen in cardiac arrests caused by ventricular fibrillation between 1995 and 2008. The study was published August 6 in Circulation