Defibrillator Safety Questioned
By Jonathan D. Rockoff, The Wallstreet Journal
Two defibrillator brands made by Boston Scientific Corp. have a design flaw that can result in the devices delivering potentially life-threatening shocks to the hearts of patients, authors of a medical journal article say.
The defect can cause the Cognis and Teligen brand defibrillators to deliver the shocks when they aren't needed in the many patients who get the devices implanted just under the skin, according to an article in the journal HeartRhythm. The potential malfunction, while appearing to be extremely rare, could in theory affect any of the more than 90,000 devices implanted, said the authors. They advised physicians to look for the problem should the devices malfunction.
Defibrillators deliver shocks or electronic pulses to hearts with abnormal rhythms so they beat normally. The devices have saved thousands of lives since patients in the U.S. who had suffered a cardiac arrest started getting them in the mid-1980s.
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