About electro-pulse therapy of cardiac arrhythmias

The possibility of restoring normal contractions of the fibrillating heart by exposure to a strong electric current was proved, as is known, back in 1899 by the experiments of Prevost and Batelli. Further study of this issue led to the improvement of the method of electrical defibrillation of the heart and the proposal for the use in clinical practice of various types of defibrillators based on the use of alternating current and a single electrical pulse. The last type of defibrillator that generates a single pulse of 0.01 sec duration. (by discharging a capacitance of 20 microfarads through an inductance of 0.3 henry), was designed by N.L. Gurvich in 1940 and began to be used in the clinic since 1952. Studies have shown the advantage of the Soviet pulse defibrillator (type ID - I - VEI) over the used in foreign clinics with alternating current defibrillators. NL Gurvich's scheme formed the basis for the design of foreign samples of impulse defibrillator - "PREMA I" in Czechoslovakia and Lone's "Cardioverter" in the USA.