Diagnosis, not energy or weight, determines ventricular defibrillation.
In a study demonstrating 95% success in achieving defibrillation in 94 resuscitative events in adult patients, the authors find that weight did not determine that success and that the results were obtained at significantly low rates of energy output. Diagnosis was the key, they conclude, and they view the expensive high-energy defibrillators marketed today as unnecessary, potentially lethal, and economically wasteful.
D001835:Body Weight; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology