Ventricular fibrillation is the uncontrolled contraction of the heart. If no remedy is administered, in severe cases this may lead to death.
The remedy is administered by the use of a defibrillator, a piece of equipment which is capable of generating high voltage shocks to the chest in a bid to re-start or stabilise the heart.
The defibrillator generates the high voltage shock by large capacitors within the housing of the unit. They operate in a similar way to an electronic camera flash; they are charged by low voltage over a few seconds and when triggered are capable of discharging a very fast high voltage - in the case of a camera - triggering the flash.
The high voltage is administered to the patient by two hand-held pads. The underside of each has a metallic conducting surface. In 1970 Professor Michel Mirowski developed the personal defibrillator (sometimes known as the automatic implantable defibrillator), this is implanted in the chest and automatically detects irregularities and issues a shock to correct them.
