Patent ID: 6181967
Filing Date: 2001-01-30
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
A method for external treatment of dysrhythmias including fibrillation of a patient's heart, comprising the steps of providing a control box for generating electrical waveforms including shocks of variable energy content sufficient for terminating said dysrhythmias; inserting a lead having transvenous defibrillation electrodes through a portion of the patient's venous system to position said electrodes to produce an electric field vector through the patient's heart when an electrical shock of sufficient energy content is applied across said electrodes; electrically connecting said control box to said lead to deliver electrical shocks generated by said control box to said defibrillation electrodes, and to deliver a representation of the patient's ECG waveform to said control box; synchronously triggering the generation of said electrical shocks from said control box in response to detection of a preselected portion of said ECG waveform; and adjusting the energy content of each of said electrical shocks to a value within a range from one to thirty joules to terminate a detected event of fibrillation.