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DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Defibrillators

by Keith Loria, Reporter | December 30, 2009
LIFEPAK 15, Physio-Control's
most recent defibrillator
on the market
This report originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News

Although the first defibrillators were tested on humans in 1947, it wasn't until the mid-1950s that defibrillation of the heart was possible in closed-chest patients, and another 10 years before portable units were available.

Over the past five decades or so, defibrillators have become the best way to revive a person who goes into sudden cardiac arrest, as OEMs have invested a great deal of time and energy in creating equipment that can be used in all settings.

"We've been around this market for almost 55 years so we really have a rich history with defibrillators," says Cam Pollock, VP of Global Marketing at Physio-Control. "We certainly grew up in the industry and in that time period we have had over 600 devices out there in the world-at hospitals, in ambulances, and community settings. We see ourselves as a pioneer in the industry and what it results in is a deep understanding of our customers and the defibrillation market."

As a whole, companies find that it's difficult to talk about defibrillators as a standalone because they are really only one piece of the chain of survival. A defibrillator by itself can shock someone back to life, but if you don't have good CPR happening prior to and coinciding with the defibrillation process, it's not as effective. Same with the post-care; there needs to be a good system in place.

"Most people don't understand that one of the most significant public health problems in the world today is cardiac arrest," says Ward Hamilton, SVP and VP of Marketing for Zoll Medical Corporation. "Defibrillators are a very exciting area."

While 10 years ago the defibrillator industry was all about the shock, today the leading OEMs are focused more on a complete chain of survival, which follows resuscitation from the point of collapse all the way to recovery.

The Philips HeartStart family of
defibrillators each delivers
SMART Biphasic therapy and is
tailored to support the needs
of a particular class of responders.



"We are moving from beyond the shock to a whole continuum of care, including different therapies, different monitoring capabilities and information management," says Mike Miller, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cardiac Care at Philips. "That involves many steps in the chain. It involves capturing the patient at point of collapse, getting CPR started quickly, administering the shock, transporting them to the hospital, alerting the emergency room to the patient coming in, perhaps preparing other parts of the hospital to receive the patient and tracking the patient on to ICU and then on to recovery. We see this as a total resuscitation care cycle."