Confining the Shock to the Heart Muscle (IMAGE)

Washington University in St. Louis

Confining the Shock to the Heart Muscle

Caption

The major innovation of the recent work is an electrotherapy that greatly decreases the energy needed to shock a heart back into rhythm. But moving the electrodes also helps. The standard implantable defibrillator consists of an electrode in the right ventricle and a “can” implanted in the patient’s chest. Placing the second electrode within the coronary sinus so that the shock is confined to the heart muscle means that less energy is needed and the shock is less painful.

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JACCS

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