In 1955,
Dr. Karl William Edmark created The Physio-Control Co. to sell his first
patient monitor, which simply triggered a light whenever a patient's heart beat, and set off an alarm when a heartbeat is no longer detected. His device was patented as a "Heartbeat Indicator". After moving to
Seattle, he developed the first
DC defibrillator. Medical defibrillators at the time used
alternating current which caused patients to spasm violently because of the high voltage. The DC defibrillator allowed surgeons to administer a more-controlled, low-voltage shock that restored the heartbeat without causing additional trauma. In 1968, Physio-Control introduced the Lifepak 33 at the annual American Heart Association meeting in November 1968. The idea for the first Lifepak came after Physio-Control learned that Zenith Corp. was developing a 56-pound monitor/defibrillator that was bulky, however portable. With a total weight of 34 pounds, the Lifepak 33 was the lightest defibrillator available at the time. Customers included the
United States Navy, who installed Lifepak 33s on both
Air Force One and
Air Force Two. in 1980 in a stock deal worth about $145 million, returning $170,000 for every $1,000 the original investors had put into the company in 1966. In 1992, Physio-Control voluntarily shut down production of its defibrillators and patient monitors after a review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the company had failed to follow “good manufacturing practices,” including inadequate failure investigations, not properly inspecting critical components of its products, and failing to adequately document manufacturing and testing procedures in writing. In 2003, Medtronic Physio-Control announced the launch of the
LUCAS CPR device, a mechanical compression device driven
pneumatically via an compressed air cylinder. It was able to provide more consistent and effective compression over longer spans than first responders, and has now become an essential part of many ambulance kits. In 2006, Medtronic announced a
spin-off of Physio-Control, however the company was still owned by Medtronic at this time. In 2008, shortly after the spin-off was launched, Physio-Control launched the Lifepak 15 Monitor/Defibrillator. In 2011, The company was reacquired and was taken private by
Bain Capital, however the company remained a separate entity. In 2016,
Stryker Corporation announced their agreement to acquire Physio-Control International, Inc. for $1.28 Billion. Shortly after this acquisition, The LUCAS 3.1 device was launched, and featured the Stryker logo, replacing the Physio-Control logo. As of 2022, Physio-Control, Inc. is a fully owned subsidiary of Stryker Corporation and operates under the Stryker Emergency Care division. Physio-Control acts as the product designer and manufacturer while Stryker distributes the product through their channels. In 2024, Physio-Control and Stryker released the LIFEPAK 35 Monitor/Defibrillator which is now the flagship product of the company. ==Products==