Professor Gavin Perkins, Vice President of Resuscitation Council UK said:
“We’re fully supportive of innovation in the area of resuscitation. This is vital to securing improved outcomes for patients. Personal defibrillation technology, as a concept, is exciting.
Robust clinical evaluation, prior to implementation, is now required in order to determine the product’s effectiveness, so that we can ensure there is enough scientific evidence to confirm that this product is safe and effective."
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Background:
- Resuscitation Council UK is the national expert in resuscitation, formed in 1983, we’re committed to ensuring that survival rates for in and out of hospital cardiac arrest improve. We do not endorse products. Over the past forty years, RCUK has become a global leader in the resuscitation field for the UK and recognised globally for its contribution to improving the care of critically unwell people, and cultivating a community of healthcare professionals who bring decades of expertise and share our passion for saving lives through evidence-based resuscitation practice.
- Resuscitation Council UK recommend equitable and rapid access to defibrillation. Defibrillation can be lifesaving for people who sustain a cardiac arrest due to a heart rhythm disturbance known as ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia.
- The likelihood that attempted defibrillation is successful is affected by a variety of factors including the time to first shock, the position of the defibrillator pads, initial shock energy. Our guidelines recommend defibrillation is attempted rapidly, with an initial shock energy of at least 120 joules and that the pads are positioned appropriately on the chest. Further information is available on our guideline pages.
- Previous high quality research reported that personal defibrillators placed in the home of people at high risk of cardiac arrest did not improve survival as many cardiac arrests in this setting are unwitnessed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18381485/)
- The concept of personal defibrillation, such as CellAED, has the potential to increase access to defibrillation. Clinical evaluation is crucial to determine the efficacy and safety of a product in relation to its intended purpose and the claims made against it. We are unclear as to the depth of clinical evaluation that this product has received and would advise caution until such data are published in the peer reviewed literature.
- There are health inequalities in access to public access defibrillators. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34757059/) Any future defibrillator deployment strategies should take care to provide equitable access and through this reduce health inequalities.
For more information or to request for an interview please call Stella Hinde, Media and Campaigns Manager on 020 7391 0740 or email stella.hindle@resus.org.uk
- Resuscitation Council UK is saving lives by developing guidelines, influencing policy, delivering courses and supporting cutting-edge research. Through education, training and research, we’re working towards the day when everyone in the country has the skills they need to save a life.