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Zoll executive: Automated CPR works just fine

By TOM SPOTH, Sun Staff

Lowell Sun

CHELMSFORD -- Packer, CEO of Zoll Medical Corp., yesterday defended

his company's line of automated CPR machines in an interview with The Sun.

A recent field test of the AutoPulse device was prematurely terminated after

early results found the machines to be less effective than manual CPR.

But Packer said seven other studies conducted on the device determined that

the product was superior to CPR performed by humans.

" It was absolutely odd, " Packer said of the study presented at an American

Heart Association meeting last weekend. " It left a lot of people scratching

their heads. "

The trial, conducted at five sites in North America, found that 9.9 percent

of patients in cardiac arrest survived when manual CPR was used, while only

5.9 percent survived when treated with the AutoPulse. The study was

discontinued about halfway through.

Packer speculated that the AutoPulse may have been used inconsistently at

different sites. He added that the disparity in the results was not

statistically significant, and pointed out that two other studies released

at the AHA meeting produced positive results.

The Richmond Ambulance Authority in Virginia reported that 9.7 percent of

cardiac-arrest victims treated with the Zoll device were eventually

discharged from the hospital, as opposed to 2.9 percent of those who

received CPR from humans. EVAC Ambulance, an EMS provider in Florida,

studied short-term survival rates and found that 29 percent of AutoPulse

patients reached the emergency room alive, while only 19 percent of patients

receiving CPR without the AutoPulse made it that far.

Zoll added the AutoPulse to its product line in October 2004 when it

purchased Revivant Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. About 150 customers use the

device, which was introduced in 2003 and costs $11,000, Packer said. The

AutoPulse is a relatively small part of Zoll's business, which hinges

largely on the sale of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). CPR and

defibrillation are both integral components in treating heart-attack

victims.

The AutoPulse consists of a backboard and a band that straps around a

patient's torso, and is pulled down to simulate the motion of CPR. Because

the device distributes pressure across the entire chest, it can pump more

blood than a human, according to Zoll.

Packer said that taken as a whole, the body of evidence on the AutoPulse is

encouraging.

" Now we have seven positive (trials) and one neutral, " he said. " We are very

confident in the device. "

Shares of Zoll dipped 27 cents yesterday to $23.05. The company's stock

price has fallen 35 percent since the start of 2005 due to

lower-than-expected earnings.

Tom Spoth's e-mail address is tspoth@....