Expediting Defibrillation
Historically, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular
tachycardia together represented the initial rhythm in half of
all outpatient cardiac arrests,63,69 although recent trends show
a decline in their relative frequency.73 Data suggest that with
each passing minute of untreated ventricular fibrillation, the
likelihood of survival is reduced by 7% to 10%.63 There has
therefore been rapid expansion of defibrillation services by
emergency medical services and public access to automatic
external defibrillators, including high-traffic areas such as
airports, shopping centers, and office buildings.105–107 The
improvement in survival has been dramatic (Figure 9).108,109
Among the most rapid response times anywhere has been that