Home placement of automatic external defibrillators among survivors of ventricular fibrillation.

We performed a study to determine how many patients at highest risk for an episode of ventricular fibrillation (those who have already survived such an event) are potential candidates for automatic external defibrillator placement and accepting of such a device in their homes. All VF survivors in King County, Washington, during 1984 were screened for possible enrollment in the study. Of 95 survivors of out-of-hospital VF, 63 (66%) were eligible and of 47 patients approached, 38 (81%) agreed to participate in the study. These findings suggest that approximately half (product of 66% and 81% acceptance rate equals 53%) of VF survivors potentially could use automatic external defibrillators.