A hand-cranked, affordable defibrillator for resource-poor settings

摘要

Several hospitals and clinics, in the World are poor in resources. They cannot afford life-saving defibrillators as these are expensive. Furthermore, lack of reliable power as well as availability of appropriate batteries, hinders maintenance of these defibrillators, if they can be obtained. Furthermore, Automatic external defibrillators (AED) are inappropriate for these applications as they use expensive-disposable electrodes as well as, equally, expensive batteries and are not designed for repeated use. It is a well-known fact that one out of four AEDs fails to shock because of depleted batteries or expired electrodes A hand-cranked, external, Bi-Phasic defibrillator is being developed, by Jeevtronics Ltd, in India, which will be affordable and allows the delivery of a shock with 8-12 seconds of cranking. This, affordable, defibrillator uses paddles and will not require batteries or disposable electrodes and does not require an external-power source. The circuitry, in the defibrillator, has been designed, using commonly available components that are used in consumer electronics, to ensure robustness and enhance affordability. The ECG signal is converted to sound in order to easily discriminate shockable from non-shockable rhythms. Additionally, synchronized cardioversion will allow treatment of Tachycardia, as well as some forms of atrial fibrillation. This paper will elucidate details about this defibrillator and some of the models for distribution of this device, globally, particularly in low and middle-income settings.