====== Defibrillation ======
{{tag>Functionality_unexplained}}

Since the 1960s, electrical heart defibrillators have been routinely used as a treatment for life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmias, especially ventricular fibrillation.

The defibrillators' exact mechanism of action is yet to be determined, but is presumably linked to large-scale electrical depolarization of the heart muscle.

>__The exact mechanism of defibrillation is not well understood.__ One theory is that successful defibrillation affects a critical mass of the heart, resulting in insufficient remaining heart muscle to continue the arrhythmia. Recent mathematical models of defibrillation are providing new insight into how cardiac tissue responds to a strong electrical shock."\\ \\ Source : [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defibrillation#Mechanism_of_action|Wikipedia]]



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Also see[[content:medicine:treatments:ect|Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)]]