Definition of successful defibrillation.
OBJECTIVE
The definition of defibrillation shock "success" endorsed by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation since the publication of Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care has been removal of ventricular fibrillation at 5 secs after shock delivery. Although this success criterion provides a direct assessment of the primary task of a shock, it may not be the only clinically useful measure of shock outcome. We evaluated a different defibrillation success criterion to determine whether it could provide additional insight into the relative performance of different defibrillation shocks.


METHODS
A randomized study comparing monophasic and biphasic waveform shocks is reported with return of organized rhythm as the primary outcome measure of defibrillation success.


METHODS
A total of 120 patients with out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation as the first recorded rhythm were treated with defibrillation with automated external defibrillators.


RESULTS
Return of organized rhythm (two QRS complexes, <5 secs apart, <60 secs after defibrillation) was achieved in 31 monophasic shock (45%) and 35 biphasic shock (69%) patients (relative risk, 1.53, 95% confidence interval, 1.11-2.10). Logistic regression analysis revealed that shock waveform was the strongest independent predictor of return of organized rhythm (odds ratio, 4.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.67-10.0). Defibrillation success with the conventional International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation criterion was very high (91% and 98%, respectively) and not significantly different between groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Return of organized rhythm proved to be a more sensitive measure of relative defibrillation shock performance than the conventional shock success criterion. Inclusion of return of organized rhythm as an end point in future clinical research could help discern more subtle defibrillation shock effects and contribute to further optimization of defibrillation technology.
Koster
Rudolph W
RW
Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Walker
Robert G
RG
van Alem
Anouk P
AP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods; D047548:Defibrillators; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy*