{"id":14810,"date":"2023-11-28T11:34:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T11:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/?page_id=14810"},"modified":"2025-04-09T06:26:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T06:26:51","slug":"the-history-of-aeds-and-external-defibrillation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/aed-resource-hub\/the-history-of-aeds-and-external-defibrillation\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of the Defibrillator &amp; AEDs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"section custom-header\" id=\"section_124892459\">\n\t\t<div class=\"bg section-bg fill bg-fill  bg-loaded\" >\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"section-content relative\">\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"gap-1172069544\" class=\"gap-element clearfix hide-for-medium\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1172069544 {\n  padding-top: 40px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n<div class=\"row align-right\"  id=\"row-1866907938\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-216176006\" class=\"col col-img container-md medium-12 small-12 large-7 medium-col-first\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\n  <div class=\"banner has-hover\" id=\"banner-1701635912\">\n          <div class=\"banner-inner fill\">\n        <div class=\"banner-bg fill\" >\n            <div class=\"bg fill bg-fill \"><\/div>\n                                    \n                    <\/div>\n\t\t\n        <div class=\"banner-layers container\">\n            <div class=\"fill banner-link\"><\/div>            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n            \n<style>\n#banner-1701635912 {\n  padding-top: 246px;\n  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);\n}\n#banner-1701635912 .bg.bg-loaded {\n  background-image: url(https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Defibrillators-1.jpg);\n}\n#banner-1701635912 .bg {\n  background-position: 39% 12%;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #banner-1701635912 {\n    padding-top: 500px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #banner-1701635912 {\n    padding-top: 380px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-216176006 > .col-inner {\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-216176006 > .col-inner {\n    margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row row-collapse container-md box-row\"  id=\"row-1833258973\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-624462839\" class=\"col medium-12 small-12 large-7\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner dark\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"stack-1558114244\" class=\"stack custom-shape stack-row justify-start items-stretch\">\n\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"text-1553859233\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h1>The History of the Defibrillator &amp; AEDs<\/h1>\n<p>Defibrillation, which describes a process of restoring and normalising heart function via electric shock to the heart after cardiac arrest, was developed through years of innovation and scientific study.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t\n<style>\n#stack-1558114244 > * {\n  --stack-gap: 0rem;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-624462839 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 16px 16px 16px 16px;\n  margin: -70px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-624462839 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 35px 35px 55px 35px;\n    margin: -90px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-624462839 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 65px 50px 80px 60px;\n    margin: -340px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<style>\n#section_124892459 {\n  padding-top: 30px;\n  padding-bottom: 30px;\n  background-color: #f2fafd;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\t<section class=\"section\" id=\"section_401600277\">\n\t\t<div class=\"bg section-bg fill bg-fill  bg-loaded\" >\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"section-content relative\">\n\t\t\t\n\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-1497598241\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1381475948\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<p>Modern defibrillation has the power to save lives. You may have seen automated external defibrillators (AEDs) located around your building, workplace, school, or even on public sites. It\u2019s thanks to years of innovation that we now have access to life-preserving equipment like AEDs to help those suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the innovation around AEDs and defibrillation dates from 1899 to the 1950\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Over time, here\u2019s how defibrillators and AEDs have evolved into what we use today.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-1381475948 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-1381475948 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-1381475948 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<style>\n#row-1497598241 > .col > .col-inner {\n  border-radius: 49px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-1944163478\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-124987537\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>Early Defibrillation (1899 \u2013 1930)<\/h2>\n<p>Throughout the 1900s, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1040159\/life-expectancy-united-kingdom-all-time\/\">life expectancy in the UK<\/a> steadily rose, doubling in number over the following two decades. The major deviations from this were typically caused by worldwide flus or virus epidemics, such as smallpox and the Spanish Flu. But, as people lived longer, caused by medical and sanitary advancements, the risk of fatal heart diseases (and ultimately heart failure) also became a growing concern across the globe.<\/p>\n<h3>When Was Cardiac Arrest First Discovered?<\/h3>\n<p>In 1899, a paper called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4237290\/\">\u201cCardiac Failure and Sudden Death<\/a>\u201d proposed by British scientist, John A McWilliam, first suggested that ventricular fibrillation was the leading \u201cmechanism\u201d for sudden cardiac death(SCD).<\/p>\n<p>After this discovery, which was thought to contribute to nearly a quarter of human deaths, sudden heart failure became a worldwide subject of study. In the same year \u2013 in 1899 at the time of McWilliam\u2019s study \u2013 another two physiologists expanded on the work of previous experiments that involved animal research and electric defibrillation. From the University of Geneva, Switzerland, Jean-Louis Prevost and Frederic Batelli <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/ComptesRendusAcademieDesSciences0129\">contributed<\/a> to early ideas about SCD studying how smaller electric shocks could potentially reverse heart failure.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Invented the Defibrillator?<\/h3>\n<p>Studying at Johns Hopkins School of Engineering, the historically important William Kouwenhoven <a href=\"https:\/\/ajplegacy.physiology.org\/content\/ajplegacy\/103\/2\/444.full.pdf\">was credited<\/a> with inventing the first defibrillator in 1930. He studied the effects of electric shocks and how they can revive the human heart, which later inspired the first external defibrillator. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-124987537 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-124987537 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-124987537 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-90430507\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-798001166\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>Defibrillation on Patients (1947 \u2013 1950)<\/h2>\n<p>Defibrillation would become an ongoing, respectable study, and research was conducted on animals throughout the early 1900s until the first human patient in 1947.<\/p>\n<p>An American cardiac surgeon named Claude Beck <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20071024145652\/http:\/case.edu\/artsci\/dittrick\/site2\/museum\/artifacts\/group-c\/c-8defrib.htm\">was credited<\/a> with proving the viability of McWilliam\u2019s study by using defibrillation on human patients. Beck\u2019s background was well established in fibrillation research, where he spent decades studying heart massages as a potential treatment for disease. Aware of early defibrillation experiments on animals, Beck was curious to understand the affect it would have as a treatment on patient\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<p>In 1947, Beck was treating a 14-year-old male patient with a chest defect, who\u2019s heart suddenly failed toward the end of an operation. To save a life, <a href=\"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/dittrick\/online-exhibits\/explore-the-artifacts\/claude-beck-defibrillation-and-cpr\/\">Beck used open-heart defibrillation<\/a> to restore the boy\u2019s heart rhythms to a normal rate, where the patient was eventually able to make a full recovery. This even captured national headlines, marking a significant medical advancement. Beck had given credibility to the role of defibrillation as effective treatment in preventing heart failure.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-798001166 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-798001166 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-798001166 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-1725466044\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1067208692\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>The First Portable External Defibrillator (1950 &#8211; 1961)<\/h2>\n<p>After experimenting with AC power, Kouwenhoven <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20091025044811\/http:\/geocities.com\/neveyaakov\/electro_science\/kouwenhoven.html\">was able to develop<\/a> a modern, portable defibrillator. The first model could deliver 480-volt shocks safely to the human heart, but the weight of the equipment (120 kg) was too impractical for regular use.<\/p>\n<p>During this time, the 1950s, defibrillation became focussed on saving human lives, outgrowing its status as an experiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, Kouwenhoven\u2019s team was able to innovate the original model, reducing its weight to only 45 lbs.<\/p>\n<h3>The Invention of External Defibrillation<\/h3>\n<p>Kouwenhoven\u2019s defibrillator was later updated by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoll.com\/about-zoll\/dr-paul-zoll\">Paul Zoll,<\/a> another interested in research in portable defibrillation. But Zoll\u2019s ideas at the time were considered radical \u2013 for example, he preferred closed chest resuscitation over open chest defibrillation, which was more popular at the time.. These would later become the hallmark to resuscitation techniques used nowadays by modern health practitioners.<\/p>\n<p>Zoll\u2019s work in the late 1950s set the tone of contemporary defibrillation, which inspired research to innovate closed chest techniques.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-1067208692 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-1067208692 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-1067208692 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-121807564\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1909806641\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>The First Time Portable Defibrillators are Used in the Field (1960s)<\/h2>\n<p>In 1957 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Frank_Pantridge\">Dr Frank Pantridge<\/a>, who worked across hospitals and universities in Belfast, and his colleague, Dr John Geddes had introduced CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to the medical field.<\/p>\n<p>These studies, plus additional research, showed Dr Pantridge that pre-hospital care for those suffering from cardiac arrest was imperative to their long-term success. This led him to create a Mobile Coronary Care Unit (MCCU) that was the first portable defibrillator, a specialist ambulance that was equipped with specialist cardiovascular care.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in 1965, he installed an ambulance in Belfast with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC555899\/\">first remote defibrillator<\/a>, that weighed about 70kg, and used a capacitator designed for NASA.<\/p>\n<h3>Did You Know\u2026\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>Despite these advancements in portable AEDs, it wasn\u2019t until the 1990s that ambulances across the UK would have these devices as standard.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-1909806641 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-1909806641 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-1909806641 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-683770827\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1822903286\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>The Modern AED (1979 \u2013 Present Day)<\/h2>\n<p>In 1979, Physicians Arch Diack and W. Stanley Welborn developed a public-facing, safe defibrillation unit. Introducing these devices to untrained civilians for scenarios that call for emergency treatment, these physicians <a href=\"https:\/\/emsmuseum.org\/collections\/archives\/defibrillators\/heartaid\/\">created Heart-Aid<\/a>, a public AED device.<\/p>\n<p>Despite its lack of commercial success, this created the foundation for AEDs \u2013 including pads, voice coaching and heart rhythm assessment. The ongoing innovation of the 1900s resulted in the devices that we see today, including the way we think about safe defibrillation as a lifesaving technique.<\/p>\n<p>A lesson from history, external defibrillation and AEDs are still evolving through constant innovation \u2013 they continue to become lighter, more suitable to a variety of scenarios, and even capable of operating in an easy, low-maintenance way.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-1822903286 > .col-inner {\n  padding: 0px 5% 0px 0px;\n  margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #col-1822903286 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n@media (min-width:850px) {\n  #col-1822903286 > .col-inner {\n    padding: 0px 20% 0px 0px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<style>\n#section_401600277 {\n  padding-top: 30px;\n  padding-bottom: 30px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\t<section class=\"section contact-us\" id=\"section_164987788\">\n\t\t<div class=\"bg section-bg fill bg-fill  \" >\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"section-content relative\">\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover brand-left x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_1334484035\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"522\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Brand-shape-2.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Brand-shape-2.png 522w, https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Brand-shape-2-212x238.png 212w, https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Brand-shape-2-500x560.png 500w, https:\/\/aerohealthcare.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Brand-shape-2-357x400.png 357w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 522px) 100vw, 522px\" 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