Defibrillation success rates for electrically-induced fibrillation: hair of the dog.
Accidental electrocutions kill about 1000 individuals annually in the USA alone. There has not been a systematic review or modeling of elapsed time duration defibrillation success rates following electrically-induced VF. With such a model, there may be an opportunity to improve the outcomes for industrial electrocutions and further understand arrest-related-deaths where a TASER(®) electrical weapon was involved. We searched for MedLine indexed papers dealing with defibrillation success following electrically-induced VF with time durations of 1 minute or greater post VF induction. We found 10 studies covering a total of 191 experiments for defibrillation of electrically-induced VF for post-induction durations out to 16 minutes including 0-9 minutes of pre-shock chest compressions. The results were fitted to a logistic regression model. Total minutes of VF and use of pre-shock chest compressions were significant predictors of success (p &#60; .00005 and p= .003 respectively). The number of minutes of chest compressions was not a predictor of success. With no compressions, the 90% confidence of successful defibrillation is reached at 6 minutes and the median time limit for success is 9.5 minutes. However, with pre-shock chest compressions, the modeled data suggest a 90% success rate at 10 minutes and a 50% rate at 14 minutes.1.
Biomedical Engineering Dept. at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. kroll051@umn.edu
Mark W
MW
Kroll
Raymond M
RM
Fish
Hugh
H
Calkins
Henry
H
Halperin
Dhanunjaya
D
Lakkireddy
Dorin
D
Panescu
D000818:Animals; D057667:Conducted Energy Weapon Injuries / Q000150:complications; D004285:Dogs; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D058687:Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*