Researchers Develop A New Low-Energy Defibrillation Method, Max Planck Institute Study

An international team of scientists from the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (Gottingen, Germany), Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (France), the University Medicine Gottingen (Germany), the Rochester Institute of Technology (USA), and the Institut Non-Lineaire de Nice (France) have developed a new low-energy method for terminating life-threatening cardiac fibrillation of the heart. They have shown that their new technique called LEAP (Low-Energy Anti-fibrillation Pacing) reduces the energy required for defibrillation by more than 80% as compared to the current conventional method. Their discovery opens the path for the painless therapy of life threatening cardiac fibrillation. The scientists describe their results in the current issue of Nature.