More than 1000 American die every single day due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which claims more lives than breast cancer, AIDS, and lung cancer combined.1 Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) can provide 24-hour monitoring of heart rhythm and deliver immediate effective treatment, thus can reduce overall mortality by 23% and provide 2.5 more years of life for a patient. However, the size, cost, and reliability of current ICD limit its acceptance by the patients. As a key component, the capacitor occupies more than 1/3 of the ICD volume and delivers the necessary defibrillation energy to the heart. In the Phase I program, Strategic Polymer Sciences, Inc (SPS) has demonstrated that ultrahigh energy density (27 J/cm3) can be achieved in SPS breakthrough capacitor films, which is much higher than the current ICD capacitors (4-6 J/cm3) and ten times higher than other polymer film capacitors (<2 J/cm3) (Science 313:334 (2006), """"""""A dielectric polymer with high electric energy density and fast discharge speed""""""""). In addition, SPS dielectric polymers have self-healing feature, do not contain any liquid, do not require regular reforming, thus can improve the reliability of the ICD and extend the battery life. In the Phase II program, SPS will develop prototype ICD capacitors for in vitro test.
The development of advanced high energy density capacitors based on innovative SPS technology can significantly reduce the size/weight and cost of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD). This will enable the wide accessibility and acceptance of ICD to millions of Americans threaded by sudden cardiac arrest.
