Courtesy of Zoll Medical Inc.
Conventional defibrillator use the monophasic sine wave pattern. With the advance in the research of implantible defibrillator, it soon becomes clear that the biphasic waveform is much more efficient than the monophasic waveform. The next question becomes: can you do it in an external defibrillator. The answer is yes, though there is a slight modification of the biphasic waveform was necessary (rectilinear biphasic) to decrease the resistance of the current through the skin. It was shown to be more effective than conventional defibrillator for V fib for patients undergoing AICD implantation. The device (Zoll Medical Inc) was FDA approved in September 1999.
Courtesy of Zoll Medical Inc.
Biphasic Defibrillator is now used routinely in many electrophysiolgy lab. Some AICD patients in V. fib refractory to conventional monophasic defibrillation responded to biphasic.