A combined impedance compensation strategy applied to external automatic defibrillators

Abstract

Transthoracic impedance is one of the key factors affecting the success of defibrillation. Impedance compensation technique is used to adjust defibrillation parameters according to the transthoracic impedance of the defibrillator. In this paper, a combined impedance compensation strategy is proposed to address the shortcomings of existing compensation strategies. In order to evaluate the performance of the combined compensation strategy, this paper uses the prototype as the experimental machine, and uses two AED with representative impedance compensation strategies as the control machine, and the simulated defibrillation method is used for comparative testing. The results show that the combined impedance compensation has a more steadier distribution over the defibrillation energy and current: compared with the energy-based impedance compensation strategy, this strategy can significantly reduce the peak current (25 Ω: 27.8 vs. 54.7 A; 50 Ω: 20.7 vs. 32.3 A) and average current (25 Ω: 24.8 vs. 37.5 A) of defibrillation at low impedance, and compared with the current impedance compensation strategy, it can significantly reduce the defibrillation energy (150 Ω: 8.6 vs. 1.7 %, 175 Ω: 15.6 vs. 4.9 %, 200 Ω: 21.9 vs. 8.5 %) at high impedance. Impedance compensation is more precise and the current passing during defibrillation is steadier.