Comparison of Countershock with Direct and Alternating Current in External Cardiac Defibrillation

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Abstract
THE combined use of external cardiac massage and external electric defibrillation, as developed by Kouwenhoven et al.1 and Zoll and his associates,2 has added new dimensions to the resuscitation of the fibrillating ventricle. Alternating-current countershock has proved its value in this and in the elective termination of less catastrophic arrhythmias.3 , 4 Recently, Lown and his co-workers5 showed that in dogs a direct-current discharge from a storage capacitor was safer and more effective than alternating-current countershock. To our knowledge this fact has not been substantiated in human beings. A direct comparison of the two methods in the termination of ventricular tachycardia and . . .