Transventricular simple-capacitor discharge defibrillation thresholds after coronary ligation and body hypothermia

Peak current defibrillation thresholds (PCDT), i.e., values with 50% probability of success, were determined after ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LADCA) while, simultaneously, body temperature was slowly decreased until central venous temperature reached an average minimum of 22.8 degrees C (s.d. 3.1). In 14 dogs with over 166 successful defibrillations, the average time elapsed between the moment of ligation and the last defibrillation was 179.1 min. (s.d. 31.9), with an average PCDT of 53.6 mA g-1 of heart (s.d. 20.5). This value was compared by means of the unpaired Student's t test with three previous values obtained, respectively, under hypothermia with no occlusion (HNO), normo-thermia with coronary occlusion (NCO), and normothermia with no occlusion (NNO), that is, HNO 69.5 (s.d. 30.4), NCO 81.1 (s.d. 29.3), and NNO 89.5 (s.d. 32.8), all expressed in mA g-1 of heart. All three differences even after Bonferroni's correction, were statistically significant (P less than 0.3%). We concluded that, (1) defibrillation thresholds were decreased by coronary occlusion and by hypothermia, (2) the decrease due to hypothermia was greater than that due to coronary occlusion, (3) both decrements appeared as additive.