Preliminary results on the performance of a biphasic Cuban defibrillator in swine

Although the biphasic waveform has been in use for internal implanted defibrillators since 20 years ago, only recently it has begun to be applied to external defibrillators, due its greater efficacy in the resuscitation of patients with ventricular fibrillation. In this paper, the results of the application of an external biphasic defibrillator developed by the authors to a set of pigs are presented and discussed. Discharges were always initiated with a minimum energy value of 150 J, increasing to 200 J when it was deemed necessary. The protocol used in the experiment is presented and discussed. The resuscitation efficacy attained with the defibrillator is analyzed, concluding that it is satisfactory.