Defibrillation testing unplugged

摘要

Since the advent of the implantable defibrillator over 3 decades ago, defibrillation testing has been used to assess whether the device will detect and treat a ventricular arrhythmia. Early in the development of this therapy, defibrillation testing was required since the energy needed to defibrillate a patient was highly dependent on the system (epicardial patches, coils, etc), and the output of the devices was limited. Current defibrillation systems have more efficacious waveforms and optimized electrodes that provide an increased safety margin. However, a small number of patients implanted with current defibrillators still have inadequate safety margins requiring revision of their systems. These are the patients that one wants to identify with defibrillation testing.