How do aed machines work

Before and during surgery. Recovery from surgery. Follow the instructions you receive. Your healthcare team may tell you to take these steps: Check the cut on your chest often and keep the area clean and dry. Call your doctor if any swelling or bleeding occurs or if you develop a fever. Take over-the-counter pain medicines such as acetaminophen if you feel pain. But talk to your doctor first; he or she may tell you to avoid taking ibuprofen or other kinds of pain medicines, for example.

Ask your doctor when you can resume taking medicines that you took before the surgery, how soon you can take a shower, and when you can return to work. You will probably have to avoid driving for at least a week while you recover from your surgery.

Your doctor may also ask you to avoid high-impact activities and heavy lifting for about a month. Possible surgery-related complications. Although they are rare, possible complications include: A bad reaction to the medicine used to make you relax or sleep during the surgery A collapsed lung A defibrillator wire puncturing the heart or a vessel Bleeding from the site where the device was placed Blood vessel, heart, or nerve damage Swelling, bruising, or infection at the area where the device was placed Venous thromboembolism Some ICD models have a lower risk of clots, puncture, and infection.

Look for. Living With to learn more about your recovery and life after you return home. Research for Your Health will explain how we are using current research and advancing research on defibrillators. Living With - Defibrillators. What to expect from electric shocks. Low-energy shocks. The low-energy electrical shocks your device gives are not painful. You may not notice them, or you may feel a fluttering in your chest. High-energy shocks.

The high-energy shocks last only a fraction of a second, but they can be strong or painful. They may feel like thumping or a kick in the chest, depending on their strength. Before a shock, you may feel arrhythmia symptoms. If you feel one or two strong shocks over a short period and the symptoms go away, it may be a sign that the device is working.

He or she will want to assess your condition and the device. Unnecessary shocks. During the adjustment period after your surgery, your device may deliver a shock when it is not needed. A damaged wire or a very fast heart rate due to extreme physical activity may trigger unnecessary shocks. These shocks can also occur if you forget to take your medicines.

Some people also feel phantom shocks, even when the device does not detect an arrhythmia. Make sure your WCD is fitted properly. Return to normal daily activities. Physical activity. An ICD usually will not limit you from taking part in sports and exercise, including strenuous activities. You may need to avoid full-contact sports, such as football.

Contact sports can damage your ICD or shake loose the wires in your heart. Ask your doctor how much and what types of physical activity are safe for you. You probably will be able to resume your typical driving patterns after you recover from surgery. However, if you received an ICD to prevent another sudden cardiac arrest or ventricular arrhythmia , it will probably be several months before your doctor says you are ready to drive again.

This is because of the risks of fainting or getting a shock from your device. Your doctor may also suggest driving restrictions based on the activity recorded by your device. Receive routine follow-up care.

At the follow-up visits, your doctor may also take these steps: Prescribe or adjust your medicines to decrease the number of irregular heartbeats you have. Fewer irregular beats will mean fewer high-energy shocks that have to be sent to your heart. Check to make sure the device continues to work properly and that it has not shifted in your body or caused irritation or injury. Over time, your ICD may stop working well because its wires get dislodged or broken, its battery fails, your heart disease progresses, or other devices have disrupted its electrical signaling.

Check to see whether you are at risk of heart failure. If device and medicine adjustments do not reduce your irregular heart rhythms, your doctor may suggest a procedure called ablation to stop excess electrical signals in your heart.

Check to see whether the battery needs to be replaced. Batteries in ICDs last between five and seven years. When the batteries in your device run down, you will need surgery to replace them.

Replacing the battery is less involved than the original surgery to implant the ICD. Ask your doctor whether the device generator or its wires need to be replaced, too. Manage devices that can interfere with your ICD. To be safe, keep your ICD at least six inches away from the following devices, or, when necessary, use them only briefly: Cell phones. If you have an ICD on the left side of your chest, hold your cell phone to your right ear.

Most headphones have a magnetic element in them. Wear them as far away from your ICD as possible, and do not carry your headphones in a chest pocket. Metal detectors, such as those used for airport security. The risk of harm is low, but you can show your ID card and ask for alternative inspection. Learn the warning signs of complications and make a plan.

Call your doctor if you have signs of symptoms that concern you, and if you have these signs in particular: Fainting Dizziness or feeling out of breath Fever Heart palpitations or chest pain Go to a hospital emergency room if you feel many strong shocks from your device in a short time. Tend to your emotional health. Return to Who Needs Them? Research for Your Health. Improving health with current research.

Advancing training in emergency care. This program will support young investigators who are committed to research careers in emergency cardiovascular medicine.

Funding advances in emergency response. The Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium ROC is a clinical trial network that tests treatments to address high rates of injury and death from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and severe traumatic injury.

Researchers are comparing how emergency response teams transport patients to the hospital to look for ways to improve outcomes. A registry of sudden cardiac arrests that ROC established has helped track important information about these events. In , ROC data helped show that more patients survive sudden cardiac arrest in public spaces when bystanders use an AED while waiting for a standard emergency response.

In addition, patient outcomes were better when bystanders used an AED. Promoting a clinical trial network to address emergency medicine. Helping show how AEDs can save lives. Our Public Access Defibrillation trial helped show the value of having AEDs in public spaces by showing they could increase survival among people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. Researchers found that more people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest survived when teams of volunteers trained in CPR and AED use responded, compared with volunteer responders trained in CPR only.

We funded research that showed that for patients with mild or moderate congestive heart failure and a weakly pumping heart, conventional heart failure treatment paired with a simple ICD therapy is more effective than the conventional treatment alone.

Survival rates were 23 percent higher among patients with an ICD. Supporting heart failure research collaboration. The HFN brings together nine Regional Coordinating Centers and additional clinical sites in the United States to form a collaborative platform to research strategies that address the increasing public health burden of heart failure.

Assessing optimal use of AEDs. Advancing research for improved health. We perform research. Specific projects aim to answer clinically relevant questions in diagnostics, therapeutics, and interventions. We fund research.

The Heart Failure and Arrhythmia Branch within the DCVS supports research to advance our understanding of and interventions for pediatric and adult cardiovascular diseases.

We also support the development of innovative technologies to diagnose, prevent, and treat heart and vascular diseases. The Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science supports research to translate these discoveries into clinical practice.

We stimulate high-impact research. Findings from TOPMed may help us understand how genes contribute to the development of atrial fibrillation—for example, in women and in patients who have no underlying heart disease. Read more. Using genetic information to assess risk of complications. Some genetic conditions can be treated with an ICD to monitor and correct abnormal heart rhythms.

However, even people with the same genetic pattern do not all have the same risk of developing a life-threatening arrhythmia. Improving ICD design.

Although high-energy shocks are effective therapy for arrhythmias, they can startle patients and cause them distress or pain. Read less. There are many different brands of AEDs, but the same basic steps apply to all of them. The American Heart Association doesn't recommend a specific model. Most anyone with or without a medical background can learn to use an AED or apply the pads properly and administer a shock by following the prompts provided by the AED. The computerized device will tell a rescuer to push the defibrillate button if cardiac arrest is from an abnormal heart rhythm that could respond to a shock.

Not all rhythms will. This could be either ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. Ventricular fibrillation is the most common heart-rhythm problem in victims of sudden cardiac arrest.

The cost of AEDs has decreased a lot in the past few years. The rate of sudden cardiac death can be reduced by placing AEDs in the community and by teaching people how to use them. Seconds and minutes count when cardiac arrest occurs. The likelihood of survival decreases for every minute that goes by without this type of help.

Other abnormal rhythms like a very slow heart rate or no heartbeat at all, can't be treated with an AED. When a user puts the AED's electrodes or adhesive pads on a victim's chest, the device determines whether the patient's heart needs to be shocked or not. Then the AED will instruct the rescuer about the next steps. Many of the newer models talk the rescuer through the steps. They automatically deliver the shock if appropriate. The U. You can find AEDs in many public places, including offices, schools, shopping malls, grocery stores, and airports.

Emergency first-responders are typically equipped with and trained to use AEDs. Some people with underlying cardiac conditions can be at a higher risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Your health care provider can tell you if a home AED is something you should consider. An AED system includes an AED device and accessories, such as a battery, pad electrodes, and if applicable, an adapter.

The devices give verbal instructions to users. This training, in connection with CPR training, is offered by many major health organizations. Some training is available online.