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How does cardiac defibrillation work?

By Johnson Francis

A defibrillator is a device which delivers a high voltage direct current shock in a controlled fashion. It depolarizes the whole of the heart or at least a critical mass of the heart muscle so that all cardiac electrical activity stops for a moment. Usually the dominant pacemaker of the heart starts functioning after a short pause. If the electrical abnormality which caused the cardiac arrhythmia has ceased, the person continues in a normal heart rhythm. Otherwise the arrhythmia may recur.