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. 1975 May 10;2(5966):313–315. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5966.313

Electrical requirements for ventricular defibrillation.

J F Pantridge, A A Adgey, S W Webb, J Anderson
PMCID: PMC1681899  PMID: 1131522

Abstract

Most deaths from ischaemic heart disease are sudden, occur outside hospital, and result from ventricular fibrillation. But defibrillators have only limited availability because of their size and weight. A miniature defibrillator has been developed. A singe low-energy shock succeeded in removing ventricular fibrillation in 73 out of 82 episodes, and a further shock was successful in seven more episodes. Primary ventricular fibrillation probably always responds to low-energy electrical shocks, which challenges the conventional view that correction of ventricular fibrillation requires high-energy direct-current shock. Thus even smaller and lighter defibrillators are possible. Furthermore low-energy shocks cause less myocardial damage.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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