TORONTO (CP) - Patients who need an implantable cardiac defibrillator should wait no longer than seven or eight weeks for the procedure, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society said Tuesday.

Many of the estimated 35,000 sudden cardiac arrests that occur in Canada each year could be prevented if national wait-time benchmarks for implantation were established, the society said in a statement.

"The longer you wait to have an ICD (implantable cardiac defibrillator) implanted, the greater your risk of dropping dead. It's as simple as that," said Dr. Chris Simpson, president of the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society, which provided guidance on the issue to the cardiovascular society.

"We need to ensure that the appropriate patients get referred, get seen and get the device implanted in a timely way."

The wait-time recommendation is the first produced by the access to care working group of the cardiovascular society. It was based on guidelines developed by the society and the heart rhythm society.

The working group will eventually issue similar recommendations for all aspects of cardiovascular care.

"A national ICD registry and a comprehensive waiting list strategy are urgently needed to ensure that Canadians get access to this effective, life-saving treatment," said Dr. Blair O'Neill, chair of the working group.

Simpson, a cardiologist at Kingston General Hospital, said too few doctors refer patients for the implantable defibrillators, because of a perception that they aren't cost effective and the wait times are too long.

But the groups argue the devices stack up favourably on the cost-effectiveness front, particularly when compared to therapies like statin drugs used to treat other cardiovascular conditions.

They suggested the devices are useful for people who have survived cardiac arrest or another life-threatening heart rhythm disturbance or those at high risk of suffering such an event.