Recommendations have been made recently that the energy output of present-day defibrillators be increased above the 400 wsec limit. These recommendations are based largely on experimental studies in animals. We report a case of a man weighing 190.1 kg (418.2 lb), successfully resuscitated with a single 400 wsec shock after a prolonged episode of ventricular fibrillation. The observation in this...

All of the prospective multicenter trials that support the use of implantable defibrillators have used single chamber pacemakers/implantable cardiovertor defibrillators (ICDs). Despite the significantly increased cost of dual chamber pacemaker/ICD devices and the lack of outcome data, these devices accounted for approximately two-thirds of the ICDs implanted in the United States during the 12 m...

Conventional defibrillators which stored no more than 400 J and used damped sine wave pulses defibrillated 240 of 253 (95%) episodes of ventricular fibrillation (VF) in 94 prospectively assessed resuscitations in 88 adults. Shocks of 80--240 J (under 3 J/kg) delivered to the chest wall defibrillated more often than higher energy levels. Defibrillation rate did not correlate with weight. Defibri...

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have evolved from the treatment of last resort to the gold standard therapy for patients at high risk for ventricular tachyarrhythmias. High-risk patients include those who have survived life-threatening arrhythmias, and individuals with cardiac diseases who are at risk for such arrhythmias, but are symptomless. Use of an ICD will affect the patien...

There were 7276 e-mail requests sent to dentists in the United States and Canada requesting participation in a short web-based survey to update earlier information regarding the use of dental outpatient sedation. Participants were questioned regarding their use of dental outpatient sedation, including the frequency of use, type of sedation used, route ofadministration, medications used, physiol...

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in children and adolescents is an uncommon event, yet it is devastating to families who lose a child so suddenly and unexpectedly. Sudden cardiac death in adults is primarily caused by coronary artery disease; however, SCD in the young is due to different etiologies. This article presents the following etiologies associated with SCD in the young: structural and functi...