Elsevier

Heart Rhythm

Volume 19, Issue 2, February 2022, Pages 308-317
Heart Rhythm

Clinical
Experimental
Low-energy, single-pulse surface stimulation defibrillates large mammalian ventricles

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2021.10.006Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Background

Strong electric shocks are the gold standard for ventricular defibrillation but are associated with pain and tissue damage. We hypothesized that targeting the excitable gap (EG) of reentry with low-energy surface stimulation is a less damaging and painless alternative for ventricular defibrillation.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine the conditions under which low-energy surface stimulation defibrillates large mammalian ventricles.

Methods

Low-energy surface stimulation was delivered with five electrodes that were 7 cm long and placed 1–2 cm apart on the endocardial and epicardial surfaces of perfused pig left ventricle (LV). Rapid pacing (>4 Hz) was used to induce reentry from a single electrode. A 2 ms defibrillation pulse ≤0.5 A was delivered from all electrodes with a varied time delay from the end of the induction protocol (0.1–5 seconds). Optical mapping was performed and arrhythmia dynamics analyzed. For mechanistic insight, simulations of the VF induction and defibrillation protocols were performed in silico with an LV model emulating the experimental conditions and electrodes placed 0.25–2 cm apart.

Results

In living LV, reentry was induced with varying complexity and dominant frequencies ranging between 3.5 to 6.2 Hz over 8 seconds postinitiation. Low-energy defibrillation was achieved with energy <60 mJ and electrode separations up to 2 cm for less complex arrhythmia. In simulations, defibrillation consistently occurred when stimulation captured >75% of the EG, which blocked reentry <2.9 mm in front of the leading reentrant wavefront.

Conclusion

Defibrillation with low-energy, single-pulse surface stimulation is feasible with energies below the human pain threshold (100 mJ). Optimal defibrillation occurs when arrhythmia complexity is minimal and electrodes capture >75% of the EG.

Keywords

Defibrillation
Low energy
Reentry
Surface stimulation
Ventricular fibrillation

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Funding Sources: This work was supported by the French National Research Agency (Grant Numbers ANR-10-IAHU-04 and ANR-16-CE19-0009) and the Leducq Foundation (Grant Number 16CVD02 RHYTHM). Disclosures: Dr Vigmond is a co-founder of CardioSolv, LLC. CardioSolv was not involved in this research. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.