Circulation
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Truncated biphasic pulses for transthoracic defibrillation.
Early defibrillation is the single most important factor for improving out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation resuscitation rates. To achieve the earlier response times required for survival, typically < 6 minutes from time of collapse, it will be necessary to equip a far wider network of first responders (firefighters, police, and other individuals with responsibility for public safety) with small, lightweight, and inexpensive automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). An important step in reducing the size and cost of AEDs will be to improve defibrillation efficacy. Because biphasic waveform defibrillation has had a favorable impact on implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), there are reasons to believe that biphasic waveforms would also improve transthoracic defibrillators. Our purpose, therefore, was to examine the efficacy of two different low-energy biphasic truncated waveforms referenced to a standard damped sine waveform for transthoracic defibrillation in humans. ⋯ The results of this study suggest that biphasic truncated transthoracic shocks of low energy (115 and 130 J) are as effective as 200-J damped sine wave shocks used in standard transthoracic defibrillators. This finding may contribute significantly to the miniaturization and cost reduction of transthoracic defibrillators, which could enable the development of a new generation of AEDs appropriate for an expanded group of out-of-hospital first responders and, eventually, layperson use.