title: Can the direct cardiac effects of the electric pulses generated by the TASER X26 cause immediate or delayed sudden cardiac arrest in normal adults?
abstract: There is only a small amount of experimental data about whether the TASER X26, a nonlethal weapon that delivers a series of brief electrical pulses to cause involuntary muscular contraction to temporarily incapacitate an individual, can initiate ventricular fibrillation to cause sudden cardiac arrest either immediately or sometime after its use. Therefore, this paper uses the fundamental law of electrostimulation and experimental data from the literature to estimate the likelihood of such events. Because of the short duration of the TASER pulses, the large duration of the cardiac cell membrane time constant, the small fraction of current from electrodes on the body surface that passes through the heart, and the resultant high pacing threshold from the body surface, the fundamental law of electrostimulation predicts that the TASER pulses will not stimulate an ectopic beat in the large majority of normal adults. Since the immediate initiation of ventricular fibrillation in a normal heart requires a very premature stimulated ectopic beat and the threshold for such premature beats is higher than less premature beats, it is unlikely that TASER pulses can immediately initiate ventricular fibrillation in such individuals through the direct effect of the electric field generated through the heart by the TASER. In the absence of preexisting heart disease, the delayed development of ventricular fibrillation requires the electrical stimuli to cause electroporation or myocardial necrosis. However, the electrical thresholds for electroporation and necrosis are many times higher than that required to stimulate an ectopic beat. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the TASER X26 can cause ventricular fibrillation minutes to hours after its use through direct cardiac effects of the electric field generated by the TASER.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-0019, USA. rei@crml.uab.edu
authors.forename: Raymond E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Ideker
authors.forename: Derek J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Dosdall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004566:Electrodes; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology; D006323:Heart Arrest; D006801:Humans; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology