If you have a heart-zapping defibrillator implanted in your chest, you’re not supposed to compete in sports any more intense than bowling or golf. Lots of patients ignore those guidelines, trying everything from school basketball teams and community tennis leagues to running marathons and rock climbing — although no one knows if the life-saving implants work as well under that kind of stress.
Many of these athletes will now take part in a nationwide registry to see once and for all if this is a validated risk. Do the athletes need more “shocks” to the heart than other persons that would …read more

If you have a heart-zapping defibrillator implanted in your chest, you’re not supposed to compete in sports any more intense than bowling or golf. Lots of patients ignore those guidelines, trying everything from school basketball teams and community tennis leagues to running marathons and rock climbing — although no one knows if the life-saving implants work as well under that kind of stress.
Many of these athletes will now take part in a nationwide registry to see once and for all if this is a validated risk. Do the athletes need more “shocks” to the heart than other persons that …read more

Can you die from a broken heart? Heck yeah! At least that is what a 50 year old women found out while visiting her sister-in-law’s grave. Thank goodness she had an AICD, pacer-defibrillator. And that very same AICD also showed that it fired during the actual burial as well.
The unidentified woman, whose case was described in a new report, suffered an electrical short-circuit that would have caused cardiac arrest if she hadn’t had a defibrillator in her chest. The device recorded the exact time, and her doctor later discovered that she suffered an attack as …read more

Defibrillators may soon be saving lives all over Canada. Various health initiatives, including the Durham Cardiac Safe Community Program, want to place defibrillators in public places, such as sports arenas and shopping malls.
Not only do the defibrillators save lives upon immediate use, they also send a signal to emergency workers automatically when they’re removed from the wall. Seven people out of 11 (63%) have been saved thus far reflecting the general survival rate when public access defibrillators are used. In particular, people with arrhythmia can benefit from having defibrillators readily accessible.
Dave Rivers collapsed at a local community centre …read more