Background: The mechanism by which biphasic waveforms improve defibrillation efficacy is unclear. In addition, the optimal shape of the biphasic waveforms remains controversial. Animal experiments suggest that prolonging the duration of the second phase longer than the first worsens defibrillation thresholds (DFT). The purpose of this study was to determine the strength-duration relation for the second phase of a biphasic defibrillation waveform in humans.
Methods and results: This was a prospective, randomized study of biphasic DFT in 36 patients; a uniform dual-coil transvenous lead system was used. In each patient, 3 DFTs were determined with the pulse duration for the second phase of the defibrillation waveform varying between 1 and 18 ms. The duration of the first phase was fixed at 6 ms and the capacitance was 150 microF. There was a significant increase in the leading edge voltage at DFT only when the second-phase pulse duration was decreased to 1 ms. There was no increase in DFT voltage even when the second-phase pulse duration was increased from 2 to 18 ms. Similar relations were observed for stored energy, leading edge current, or phase 2 energy. The normalized average current delivered during phase 2 decreased monotonically with increasing phase 2 duration.
Conclusions: In humans, the biphasic DFT voltage or energy is increased only when the second phase of the waveform is <2 ms. The DFT voltage is insensitive to increasing the second phase of the defibrillator waveform to as long as 18 ms, or 3 times the duration of the first phase of the waveform.