Defibrillation
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Defibrillation is the act of defibrillating the heart to try treat ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Defibrillation works by delivering a controlled electric current to the heart, which depolarises a critical mass of the heart muscle, which stops the arrhythmia and allows a coordinated heart rhythm to return. Defibrillation may be administered outside the body with the use of an external defibrillator or an automated external defibrillator, or inside the body with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
The first use on a human was in 1947 by Claude Beck,[1] professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University.
[change] References
- ↑ Claude Beck, defibrillation and CPR. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved on 15 June 2007.
[change] Other websites
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology
- American Red Cross: Saving a Life is as Easy as A-E-D
- FDA Heart Health Online: Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
- Resuscitation Council (UK)
- History of defibrillation
- How an internal defibrillator is implanted from Children's Hospital Heart Center, Seattle.
