Study calls for wider testing of internal heart defibrillators.

Byline: Joe Robertson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ When Delbert Wright was jolted awake before dawn on Nov. 22, it didn't occur to him that a 3-inch-long piece of medical technology embedded near his heart had probably just saved his life.

Wright, of Adrian, Mo., is one of 1,232 heart-attack survivors implanted with internal defibrillators since 1997 as part of a worldwide study.

On Tuesday, researchers released results of the study, saying the government should expand its criteria for the use of internal defibrillators so that many more people _ perhaps 300,000 more a year _ would be recommended for the potentially life-saving devices.

The findings, released at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, are to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The $7 million study was financed by Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp., which makes the defibrillators. The devices also are made by St. Jude Medical and Medtronic.

The results of the study should assure doctors that for many more patients the defibrillators are worth the risk of implanting them. And if the government accepts the researchers' recommendation, experts say, insurers will be more likely to cover the operation.