A defibrillator is a device that delivers an electrical current to the heart to treat life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia, by interrupting chaotic electrical activity so a normal rhythm can resume. The Swiss physiologists Jean-Louis Prevost and Frederic Batelli first showed in 1899, working at the University of Geneva, that electric shocks could both induce and reverse ventricular fibrillation in dogs, and the electrical engineer William Kouwenhoven developed the external defibrillator in 1930 while working at Johns Hopkins University. The surgeon Claude Beck of Case Western Reserve University achieved the first successful human use in 1947 during open-heart surgery on a 14-year-old boy, and the device later evolved from open-chest models through portable closed-chest units in the 1960s to today's automated external defibrillators that untrained bystanders can operate.
Facts
SignificanceThe device's first successful use on a person came in 1947, when Claude Beck restored a perfusing heart rhythm in a 14-year-old surgical patient, establishing defibrillation as a viable clinical technique. 1 FAQs
Was defibrillation tried on animals before it was used on people?
Yes, it was shown on dogs in 1899 and first used on a human in 1947 by Claude Beck.
Yes. Defibrillation was first demonstrated on dogs in 1899 by Jean-Louis Prévost and Frederic Batelli. It was not used on a human until 1947, when Claude Beck applied it for the first time, almost half a century after the animal work.
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Source William B. Kouwenhoven (Wikipedia)
In Field
Source Defibrillation (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
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Source Frank Pantridge (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Defibrillation (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section
The first use on a human was in 1947 by Claude Beck, professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University.
In Field: Biomedical Engineering, Categories
Medical devices
In Group: Life Support and Resuscitation Equipment, Lead paragraph
Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias
View the Source William B. Kouwenhoven (Wikipedia)
Associated With: William Kouwenhoven, Lead or Career section [associated-with]Quote, Associated With: William Kouwenhoven, Lead or Career section [associated-with]
his invention of the cardiac defibrillator
Frank Pantridge (Wikipedia)
Invented By: Frank Pantridge, LeadQuote, Invented By: Frank Pantridge, Lead
James Francis Pantridge, (3 October 1916 - 26 December 2004), usually known as Frank Pantridge, was a Northern Irish physician, cardiologist, and professor who transformed emergency medicine and paramedic services with the invention of the portable defibrillator.
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