For patients needing more than one shock, increasing the dose of subsequent shocks has been shown to be a better strategy for terminating VF than repeating a failed dose.
A recent randomized controlled clinical trial shows the rate of VF termination was higher with an escalating higher energy regimen of 200J and over. In yet another group of difficult-to-defibrillate patients, a significant number (27%) of patients who experienced a failed shock survived to hospital admission when defibrillated at 360J.1
Moreover, there is no existing evidence that escalating to a higher energy is harmful to the heart. Given the number of challenging patients that do not respond to lower energy shocks, a broad dosing capability up to 360 joules is an important patient care consideration for your hospital when choosing a defibrillator.
Make sure your hospital provides consistent defibrillation therapy. All Physio-Control defibrillators offer 360J biphasic capability. By standardizing your hospital with the LIFEPAK family of defibrillators, you’ll have a full range of energy dosing up to 360J.
Extensive clinical cardiac arrest data shows that:
