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The prostate gland is a, roughly golf ball sized, gland located just behind and slightly below the bladder and just in front of the rectum in males. The prostate gland actually surrounds the urethra as well, as in the urethra runs through the center of the prostate. This is why inflamed or enlarged prostates can hinder or even stop the flow of urine.

The function of the prostate gland is for sexual reproduction. The prostate gland is used to store and secrete prostatic fluid. Prostatic fluid makes up ten to thirty percent of the males secreted semen. This fluid has multiple functions; one function is to lubricate the urethra before ejaculation. The second major goal of this fluid is to motivate the sperm; this fluid triggers the sperms reaction to, in essence, swim towards the egg. The final use for this fluid is to neutralize the acids in female vaginal fluids to slow the rate at which the acids kill off the sperm cells. As you can see the prostate gland plays a major role in human reproduction, in most cases a male without a prostate gland is considered to be sterile since the sperm won’t be activated nor have any protection.

With all glands and organs within the human body the prostate gland has it’s own set of problems that can arise. One problem is the enlargement of the prostate gland; this is the most common and happens in all men as they age, generally in there forties. In many cases this enlargement applies pressure to the urethra making it harder for the male to urinate. There are several forms of treatment to alleviate this problem. Another ailment that the prostate gland can suffer is prostate cancer; this is a male only cancer and will affect roughly every one in six males. If caught and treated early many cases of prostate cancer can be cured, nearly ninety percent of the prostate cancer cases can be healed, again depending on how early it is found and treated.

The heart is an amazing organ, made even more so by the fact that it can malfunction only for a short time before escalating to a fatal event. It’s an amazing organ but it’s very complex, too.

In spite of its complexity, one device, commonly known as a pacemaker, can be implanted in the chest cavity where it can minister to a wide variety of ailments. Oftentimes, the area of the heart where the pacemaker is placed is vital but in other cases, the specific function of the pacemaker is what saves lives.

One form of this device specific to function is the pacemaker defibrillator, a device implanted into the chest where it monitors the rhythm of the heartbeat and shocks it back into rhythm when the beat is off. Other forms of pacemaker work with other aspects of the heart’s function but the pacemaker defibrillator is all about the rhythm, kind of like a tiny but driven dance instructor who pops a big whip when a dance student loses the beat.

Certain medical conditions leave the heart at risk of going into fibrillation, a frenzied beating of the heart that puts it at odds with the regular rhythm of the pulse. The heart’s muscle fibers contract erratically, causing blood to flow sporadically instead of steadily through the body. If left unchecked, fibrillation can be fatal.

Part of a pacemaker defibrillator, also called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), is an electrical impulse monitoring system. When the device detects the heart’s natural electrical impulses have gone awry and fibrillation has begun, the pacemaker emits a tiny electrical charge that shocks the heart’s electrical impulses back into a steady beat.

Two of the most distressing types of fibrillation are ventricular fibrillation, or VF, and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Ventricular fibrillation means the heart’s muscle fibers are contracting without rhythm and with irregular timing. The heart may beat fast for a few beats, skip a beat or two, and then beat rhythmically again. Or it may do the opposite. Or any combination of the above. Defibrillation may last only a few seconds, be intermittent, or continue for a prolonged period of time.

Ventricular tachycardia represents a heart that is beating much too fast to sustain health. Blood supplies oxygen to every cell in the body and a regular, steady supply is required for optimum oxygenation. When the heart beats too fast, healthful oxygenation suffers.

Since either form of fibrillation can be fatal, the experience can be frightening, too. The patient may become panicked or unconscious if fibrillation lasts too long or the contractions are too strong.

The pacemaker defibrillator detects these irregularities in rhythm and sends electrical shocks until the heart is beating smoothly and steadily once again. The device works even when the patient is sleeping.

The heart is an amazing and complex organ, just as the pacemaker defibrillator is an amazing ad complex medical device. Anyone with an implanted pacemaker defibrillator needs to stay in contact with his or her medical provider because the device will help sustain health longer than would be expected without it but the heart is just one organ in an even more amazing and complex organism. All parts are interconnected and, when one part suffers, the whole suffers, too.

Many modern conveniences have made life simpler and much less hazardous than they were without them. Smoke detectors are that type modern convenience as are carbon monoxide monitors.

Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors are so effective at keeping us safer and healthier that they’ve become required equipment for homes and public buildings in almost every community in the United States. We all benefit from them.

One modern convenience that is gaining in popularity is the automatic defibrillator although, fortunately, not everyone needs one. These modern marvels make life simpler and safer for patients with heart disease who are at constant risk of having cardiac events that throw their heartbeats dangerously off kilter.

In many cases, today’s heart patient can get his or her cardiologist or primary care physician to write a prescription for an automatic defibrillator that can be kept at home, handy at all times of the day or night in case distressing symptoms develop. Many medical insurance plans cover part or all of the expense of these devices, too, so access is relatively easy for many.

Every automatic defibrillator comes with instructions and training videos that make using them with confidence a feat that can be mastered by every member of the household. No medical degree or formal training is required. These automated devices are so well designed that they cannot be used improperly or carelessly.

Heart patients at highest risk of adverse cardiac event need not stay home where their automatic defibrillator is, either. These devices are small and easily transported. Some of them are no bigger than a large purse.

While every heart patient at risk of ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia is sure to find comfort in having a personal automatic defibrillator at hand, there are many more people who have no reason to suspect the health of their hearts is in jeopardy. Many people never know their health is at risk until a sudden cardiac event occurs.

Fortunately, the value of having an automatic defibrillator at hand is confirmed every day and, as a result, they are becoming common devices installed at public places, especially public places where many people come together for stressful reasons. Automatic defibrillator units are being installed in public places more and more often as the need for them grows.

Look for an automatic defibrillator unit near the entrance to such public places as sporting arenas and stadiums, casinos, and racetracks, all places where stress can get the best of a person. Find them in shopping malls, restaurants, and movie and stage theaters. Major airlines have at least one automatic defibrillator on every plane and many railway stations have them installed, too.

Heart disease affects people most often during middle age and in the senior years but young people are not exempt. Many a young athlete has succumbed to heart disease that went undetected until it claimed the child’s life. As a result, automatic defibrillators are becoming common equipment at schools, colleges, and universities across the nation and their presence is not limited to the athletic field.

Time is of the essence when a heart starts beating erratically. Fortunately, the automatic defibrillator is becoming as commonplace as the smoke detector and carbon monoxide monitor – quickly accessible and easy to use.

Two physiologists, Drs. Batelli and Prevost, discovered in 1899 at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, that dogs’ hearts would go into ventricular fibrillation when they administered small electrical impulses into them. Fibrillation is an erratic twitching of the muscle fibers of the heart that cause it to beat out of sync with the pulse and, when allowed to continue unabated, can be fatal.

Drs. Batelli and Prevost also discovered that larger electrical shocks stopped the dogs’ hearts from fibrillating and restored their heartbeats back to a normal, healthy pace. This discovery led to the eventual development of the heart defibrillator, a medical device that has saved countless lives since that time.

As a surgery professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1947, Dr. Claude Beck observed that ventricular fibrillation occurred fairly often when a patient’s heart wasn’t all that diseased. He described them as “heart(s) too good to die” and he became determined to find a way to save the lives of these people.

Beck’s breakthrough moment occurred in the operating room with a 14-year-old heart patient suffering from a congenital heart disorder. The boy was undergoing open heart surgery and required 45 minutes of manual cardiac massage to keep blood flowing adequately. Beck called for a heart defibrillator, which at that time was a large, unwieldy device on wheels that worked basically as an electrical transformer.

When Beck administered the drug, procainamide, applied the two paddles of the heart defibrillator to the patient’s heart, and transmitted a shock, the boy’s heart regained a natural, healthy rhythm.

Since that time, the heart defibrillator has gone through a remarkable series of evolutions and, today, one version of the heart defibrillator is a small, fully automated device that someone with no medical training at all can use.

In Frunze, USSR, during the 1950s, Dr. V. Eskin and his assistant, A. Klimov, perfected the closed-chest heart defibrillator, which eliminated the need for surgically opening the chest cavity to administer a life-saving shock.

In the 1960s, Professor Frank Pantridge engineered a portable form of heart defibrillator he could take to patients wherever they happened to be in Belfast, Ireland. Until that time, the only hope of defibrillation occurred when a patient’s ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia happened with medical professionals as direct eyewitnesses to the event.

The heart defibrillator got smaller and much less bulky in the 1980s when an engineer, Barouh Berkovits, devised a better way to apply the electrical shock. His inspiration came from the work of Bernard Lown.

Heart defibrillators got even smaller when a team of doctors at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, developed a defibrillator that could be implanted directly into the patient’s body. It went everywhere with the patient and produced electrical impulses any time its monitor detected irregular rhythms.

Today’s heart patient can have an automated heart defibrillator at home, in his car, and everywhere he chooses to take it. In many cases, an implanted device isn’t necessary and the patient can carry it with almost the same ease as carrying a briefcase or camera case.

If the heart defibrillator case gets left at home, there’s little need to worry. A growing number of public places have automated heart defibrillators installed on site where they’re handy whenever the need arises. And they’re so easy to use, no formal training is required.

The automated defibrillator is considered a godsend by anyone who has suffered cardiac distress at home or in any public place other than a medical facility. Immediate action is vital to saving the life of someone suffering an adverse cardiac event and, in certain cases, the very best intervention is cardiac defibrillation.

There was a time when cardiac defibrillation could be administered only in an operating room, with the patient’s chest open so the heart was exposed. These first defibrillators were manually operated, requiring a doctor to diagnose irregular electrical impulses within the heart that caused it to beat dangerously out of rhythm.

Once ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT) was confirmed, the physician then applied a special gel to the heart and placed a plastic defibrillator paddle on each side of the heart. The gel was formulated to direct electrical impulses from the paddles to the heart.

After the gel was applied and the pads placed appropriately, an electrical impulse was shot through the paddles, with the expectation that it would shock the heart’s natural electrical impulses back into a stable, healthy beat.

This highly dramatic procedure did save lives but it was successful in only a small number of cases. All conditions had to be perfect for the possibility of success but most people experiencing VF or VT are not in the hospital undergoing open-heart surgery at the time of arrhythmia (erratic heart beat).

Over time, the procedure has evolved dramatically. One tremendous advance was the development of defibrillators that worked without need of direct placement on the heart. These devices worked on a closed chest, with no surgery needed.

Further advances have taken the need for manual manipulation out of the process as the automated defibrillator was developed. With the advent of automated defibrillators, the success of the procedure has grown dramatically.

An automated defibrillator is easy to use, even by an untrained person who is not a medical professional. The automated device detects arrhythmias and prompts the user to administer the electrical shock only when it is needed. There is no way to administer a shock by accident. The shock button will work only when VT or VF is detected, automatically.

As defibrillators have become easier to use, they are increasingly available in everyday settings far removed from the surgical arena. The window of opportunity is very small, only a few minutes, so the quicker a defibrillator can be administered, the greater the benefit to the patient.

As a result, it’s becoming increasingly common to find an automated defibrillator in public places where many people congregate, especially under stressful circumstances. These devices are becoming standard first aid equipment in many workplaces, at sporting stadiums, casinos, on airplanes and trains, in schools, universities, and shopping centers.

It’s also becoming more common to find an automated defibrillator in the home of a heart disease patient. When the threat of adverse cardiac event is not unexpected, having such a device at hand makes the home as safe and stress free as possible.

As more people around the world are being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, the need for immediate intervention when sudden cardiac arrest occurs has gained more attention and, fortunately, help is increasingly just a few steps away. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are being installed in public facilities, such as schools, airplanes, casinos, sports stadiums, shopping centers, and railway stations, and they are easy enough to use that no specialized training is required.

An AED defibrillator delivers an electric shock to the heart of a patient who has gone into ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT). Both these conditions occur when the normal electrical impulses of the heart are thrown off beat, causing the heart to beat erratically, in the case of VF, or dangerously fast, in the case of VT. These conditions are both life threatening and require immediate medical care.

Any time cardiac arrest is suspected, the first and most important thing a bystander can do is call 911 or whatever emergency response telephone number that serves the local community. Doing so activates the emergency response medical personnel trained to handle this type situation and gets them to the emergency scene in the shortest amount of time possible.

Time is critical in the case of cardiac arrhythmia (irregular rhythm) because the condition interrupts blood flow throughout the body. When blood flow to the brain is stopped for only a few minutes, brain cells begin to die and permanent damage can occur. By prompting the heart to beat regularly again, and by doing so as soon as possible, the patient’s quality of life is spared.

No formal training is required to operate an AED defibrillator, especially those installed in public places. Simply open the storage unit and take the AED to the patient in distress. Operating instructions are clearly and simply printed and some devices even have voice prompts that make using them almost foolproof.

The AED defibrillator has two pads that must be placed on the patient’s bare chest so the device can electronically detect the rhythm of the patient’s heart. It takes about 10 to 20 seconds to detect a pattern and, if the device senses either VF or VT, it will prompt the user to press the shock button, which administers an electric pulse through the patient’s heart. This pulse provides electrical interference to the impulses causing the heart to beat dangerously and will often cause the heart to beat normally once again.

It’s becoming more common for a patient with heart disease to have an AED defibrillator at home, where it’s handy any time a suspected cardiac event occurs, but the growing trend of installing these devices in public places is saving lives of people who don’t even know their health is in jeopardy and bringing peace of mind to those who do.

Sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of more Americans each year than AIDS, breast and prostate cancers, hand guns, house fires, and traffic accidents combined. In many cases, the application of a defibrillator keeps the patient alive until emergency medical professionals arrive to provide more intensive care.

Cardiac defibrillation equipment was once available only in a hospital setting but modern medical technologies have made owning a personal defibrillator a possibility that brings peace of mind to many people, especially those at increased risk of cardiac arrest. The Phillips HeartStart Home Defibrillator is one such device that is both affordable and easy to use.

The Phillips HeartStart Defibrillator costs less than $1,000 and monthly payments are allowed to make owning one easier than ever. Each one comes with pads, a 4-year battery, training video, and carrying case. The 5-year warranty means replacement parts are available under most circumstances.

Many adult cardiac patients must get prescriptions from their cardiologists to get home heart defibrillator but the HeartStart Defibrillator is available without need of a prescription. The device comes with adult-sized pads but smaller pads, for infants and children, are available, too. These pediatric defibrillator pads do require a prescription before they’re shipped.

The HeartStart Defibrillator training video demonstrates just how easy it is to use this life-saving device and, since a training video comes with each order, every member of the household can watch it as often as necessary to feel comfortable and confident should its use ever be needed.

If a family member is not breathing normally or it’s impossible to wake them up, especially if this member of the family suffers from cardiovascular disease, a sudden cardiac arrest may be occurring. Before reaching for the HeartStart Defibrillator, call 911 first. This gets professional medical help on the way and, in a time such as this, speed matters. The sooner an emergency response team arrives, the better the chance the cardiac patient will recover successfully.

Once an emergency response team is on the way, it’s time to use the HeartStart Defibrillator. Proper use requires just three easy steps – pull, place, and press.

First, pull the cartridge handle of the defibrillator. It’s clearly marked in large letters. Pulling it will activate the HeartStart defibrillator’s audio system, which will guide you through the rest of the process.

You’ll be instructed to remove some of the patient’s clothing so the pads can be placed on his or her bare chest. The HeartStart Defibrillator’s voice prompt system will adjust instructions to the speed at which the user is working. Slower action on the user’s part will generate more detailed instructions.

Once the pads are in place, the HeartStart Defibrillator automatically begins an analysis of the patient’s heart rhythm. If an erratic, quivering, rhythm is detected, the voice prompt will direct you to press the flashing orange shock button. If no rhythm or a steady one is detected, there is no need to administer an electric shock and the device will not respond to pressing the shock button.

Some healthcare insurance providers cover all or part of the cost of the HeartStart Defibrillator. Be sure to check with your program’s administrator before placing your order.

Basic first aid courses are pretty much the same no matter where in the world the class is presented. The two main goals of the initial care techniques taught in these classes are the same everywhere – to preserve life and to prevent further injury.

To achieve these two goals, first aid courses teach simple ways to quickly assess the medical needs of an injured or ill person. In fact, the method taught is as simple as ABC. Professional emergency responders, even those on the job for many years, rely on the ABCs of first aid every time they evaluate a new patient.

The ABCs of first aid courses stand for airway, breathing, and circulation. These concerns are the very first a first aid rescuer looks for and are the first issues to be addressed if any of them is in jeopardy.

When a person’s airway is obstructed, it must be cleared immediately to preserve the life of the patient. Once the airway is cleared, the patient should usually be turned on his or her side, to prevent additional choking problems if stomach contents should be regurgitated. This move prevents further injury and should almost always be done when a person is unconscious as this is a common cause of death to unconscious patients.

While the simplified ABC checklist addresses breathing, some first aid courses expand on this step, advocating 3Bs (breathing, bleeding, and bones) and others emphasize 4Bs (breathing bleeding, brain, and bones).

Circulation problems occur when cardiac arrest causes the heart to stop beating but it can also mean dangerous bleeding. When cardiac arrest is the problem, CPR should be administered. When bleeding is life threatening, as when an artery is severed, the bleeding must be stopped immediately.

In first aid courses, students will be trained to check the ABCs and the 3/4 Bs in sequential order. In most cases, this sequence of checks works beautifully. In some cases, however, the sequence of checks must be adjusted to suit the injuries presented and sometimes two issues must be addressed simultaneously.

For example, great care must be taken when unblocking the airway of a patient who appears likely to have a spinal cord injury. Clearing the airway is vital but turning the patient onto the side, to prevent the possibility of further choking, can have devastating effects on the damaged spinal cord.

A cardiac arrest patient needing assisted respiration and chest compressions is an example of addressing two issues at the same time.

Some organizations teaching first aid courses even take the ABCs a step further, adding a D step to help rescuers remember to check for deadly bleeding or the need for defibrillation.

Using ABCs as memory guides may seem to oversimplify the situation but everyone responds differently to an emergency. The easier it is to remember what to do, the more likely the patient will experience a favorable outcome.

Some emergency medical situations involve more than one patient, too. The challenge of helping as many people as possible until the emergency medical staff arrives can test one’s memory and one’s resolve. The easier it is to remember the appropriate steps and procedures, the more likely the first aid rescuer will be to achieve those two main goals – preserving life and preventing further injury.

First aid classes teach us how to respond to medical situations in a way that prevents them from becoming bigger, more distressing, situations. In many cases, a fundamental knowledge of first aid is all that’s needed to treat an injury or illness but, in other cases, first aid can dramatically reduce damage while emergency medical help is on the way.

A great extent of what’s taught in first aid classes may seem like common sense, information that everyone learns along the way without making much effort. It involves a natural response to a situation, such as applying pressure to stop a wound from bleeding. Not every situation is what it appears at first glance, though, and knowing how to discern the difference from a minor medical condition to a major one that presents the same symptoms is one invaluable lesson learned in class.

The first formally developed first aid classes are thought to have been conducted in the 11th century by the Knights Hospitalier, a religious organization founded several hundred years earlier. During the Crusades, when many European Christians made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the Knights Hospitalier provided care and protection to these pilgrims and they trained other knights how to mend themselves when they became injured in battle.

There is an absence of organized first aid classes in recorded history for several hundred years afterward, until the Battle of Solferino, Italy, in 1859, when France’s Napoleon III joined forces with Sardinian Victor Emmanuel II to overcome the army of Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef. This battle is notable not only because first aid procedures became organized once again but because it is the last major battle in recorded world history where the commander of each army was actually on the battleground himself.

In 1859 Solferino, a gentleman named Henry Dunant urged local villagers to band together to systematically help victims of the battle, including administering first aid until more in-depth medical care could be rendered.

Just four years after the Battle of Solferino, four nations joined forces in Geneva, Switzerland, to found the internationally recognized Red Cross, the mission of which was to aid ‘sick and wounded soldiers in the field.’ More localized organizations soon followed suit, basing their principles on those of the Knights Hospitalier, including the establishment of first aid classes.

The term, first aid, combines the mission of ‘first treatment’ with ‘national aid.’ The earliest first aid classes were presented to workers in dangerous occupations, such as railways, ports, mining camps, and police forces. One common mission was to teach people how to handle medical emergencies before they occurred.

While industrial accidents increased the value of first aid classes, the knowledge they conveyed became useful in the home, too. Unfortunately, it is the war front where the biggest advances in medical technology have taken place over the span of history and it is the battlefield where organizations such as the American Red Cross came into being.

Affiliate members of the Red Cross offer first aid classes throughout the world today, always emphasizing the importance of learning how to handle a medical emergency before it happens. Many private companies and schools offer first aid classes, too.

The best CPR training comes from formal classes run by professional healthcare workers trained to teach this life-saving procedure. Fortunately, those classes are not difficult to find. They’ve even been a part of the Boy Scout Handbook since way back in 1911.

CPR training becomes important when someone’s heart has stopped beating. This cardiac arrest might be the result of injury or illness, drowning, or drug overdose. Regardless of the cause, the goal is to keep the person’s blood circulating until emergency medical personnel can arrive and begin administration of more intensive procedures.

It is believed the Old Testament Hebrew prophet, Elisha, administered CPR to a boy thousands of years ago. In the second Book of Kings, verse 4:34 describes how Elisha warmed the boy’s body and “places his mouth over his.” CPR training has changed since then but the overwhelming desire to revive life is timeless.

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), which establishes worldwide CPR training standards, announced new guidelines in 2005 that were designed to make the procedure easier for lay rescuers (all of us who are not medical professionals) to successfully perform CPR. While ILCOR standards are respected, they aren’t universally followed. They still include the need for the rescuer to provide assisted ventilation, just as Elisha provided, but other governing bodies, including the American Heart Association (AHA), do not advocate the practice.

Instead, the AHA’s 2008 recommendations call for CPR training that relies on compression-only assistance. The association bases its recommendation on the many studies that indicate better outcomes can be achieved with compressions alone. One theory behind better outcomes with just compression is that the interruption of compressions required while the rescuer administers assisted breathing is counterproductive and may reduce the benefit of the compressions.

When cardiac arrest occurs, a rescuer has only a few minutes to begin CPR with any hope of success. It is impossible to get the heart beating again by administering CPR; the benefit from the procedure is that it keeps the blood circulating in the absence of a working heart and, in doing so, keeps cellular tissue throughout the body oxygenated and alive.

Students of CPR training classes will learn that brain cells can safely lie dormant, without blood flow, only four to six minutes. After that time, cellular damage becomes so severe that to attempt CPR after six minutes causes more harm than good. When blood flow is rapidly restored to brain cells deprived of oxygen longer than six minutes, the sudden infusion of fresh blood caused by CPR only causes more damage. Survival after six minutes requires the administration of several highly technical procedures that work together to slowly resuscitate the patient.

Recent studies have demonstrated a survival rate as high as 79% when gradual restoration procedures were administered versus a 15% survival rate when traditional CPR was administered after the six-minute interval.

The most effective CPR compressions closely mimic a normal heart beat, steady and rhythmic. One study of CPR training made some amusing but ironic headlines last year when it was discovered the very best results were achieved when rescuers administered compressions while keeping time to the beat of the Bee Gees’ hit song, Stayin’ Alive.