What do they do?

An Automated External Defibulator (AED) serves the same purpose as an internal defibulator, but it is not implanted. They can only be used when a patient is suffering from cardiac arrest or severe heart fibulation, since the electrical shock they produce can damage a beating heart. An external defibulator used to be found only in hospitals and ambulances, but in recent years the reduced size and cost of these units has brought them into wider use. External heart defibulators have saved countless lives that would have been lost had it not been for the portability and affordability of this new breed of external defibulators.