Transvenous catheter defibrillation: comparison of a half-sinusoidal and trapezoidal waveform

This study compares transvenous electrode catheters' defibrillation effectiveness when using the trapezoidal waveform and when using the damped half-sinusoidal waveform, at comparable energy levels. Five greyhounds were used in some 272 fibrillation/defibrillation trials. Neither total energy, peak current, nor peak voltage could be absolutely correlated with percent effectiveness for transvenous defibrillation. However, for a given waveform, an increase in delivered energy was associated with a large and statistically significant increase in percent success.