New technologies aim to take shock out of treating irregular hearts.

摘要

To rescue an abnormally beating heart, a defibrillator must deliver a whopping 1,000 volts to reset the electric charge in every cell in the organ and allow the heart to resume its rhythm. Such sizeable jolts cause pain and destroy irreplaceable cardiac tissue. Yet they are "the only effective method of salvaging someone from sudden death," according to Peng-Sheng Chen, director of the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.