Such quivering prevents the heart from pumping blood to the rest of the body. Their pulse, heartbeat and blood pressure cannot be detected, and death occurs in minutes without effective treatment. A common cause of ventricular fibrillation is a heart attack. Emergency Care Patients with ventricular fibrillation must be treated immediately with one or more electric shocks to the heart, which are transmitted externally with defibrillator paddles placed on the chest. Severe ventricular tachycardias also must often be treated with defibrillators.
Defibrillators tend to synchronize the heart's electrical system.
Defibrillators may become more readily available as a result of FDA's approval in September 1996 of a smaller portable version that may be particularly beneficial to police officers, firefighters, flight attendants, and others who may be the first to respond to cardiac emergencies and can now equip their vehicles with the compact units. The safety and effectiveness of long-term arrhythmia treatment depend on accurate diagnosis. Sometimes ventricular arrhythmias can be detected by listening to the heart with a stethoscope. ECG's generate telltale spikes, whose characteristic rhythm and shape identify the specific type of arrhythmia. To make an ECG, a technician attaches several electrodes to the chest and sometimes the limbs.