ABSTRACT
Cardiac defibrillation has become an indispensable clinical interventional tool for the acute treatment of otherwise fatal episodes of sudden cardiac arrest. For decades (if not centuries [1,2]) it has been recognized that the delivery of a strong electric discharge across a fibrillating heart could successfully resuscitate an individual from almost certain death. Consequently, ever since the commercialization of the first defibrillator, the availability and use of both internal and external defibrillators has continued to accelerate, propelled in recent years by the ever-expanding list of clinical indications for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators [3] and the improved accessibility, functionality, and educational efforts with respect to public access of automatic external defibrillators [476].
