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Child Defibrillation. By Todd Braithwaite. Introduction.
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Child Defibrillation By Todd Braithwaite
Introduction Modern Medicine has not yet created protocols for successfully defibrillating children under twelve years old. There is a lack of research on how electrical currents affect the anatomy and physiology of a child’s body. Adequate research on this subject could improve the outcomes of advanced lifesaving (ALS) measures for children.
Goals - First • Demonstrate effects of body size on current distributions in body • Expect to find dangerous levels in child body with adult shock • Publish findings
Goals - Second • Redesign defibrillator for child body size • Expect to change strength & duration of shock • Publish findings
Cardiac Defibrillation - Basics • Heart controlled by electrical signals • Fibrillation - rapid & irregular beating of the heart • Electrical shock used to restore regular heart beat (defibrillation)
Defibrillation Basics - cont’d • Paddles (electrodes) placed on body • Electrical shock applied • View results • Repeat if necessary Note Too big of a shock will permanently damage the body tissue
Defibrillator • Lifepak 500 Automated External Defibrillator http://www.lifesaving.com/catalog/emsresus.htm
Usage of Defibrillator • Location of Electrodes
My Project • Model current distribution in body • Finite Difference Frequency Domain (FDFD) Modeling • Written in MATLAB
Model of Human Body • No model of child body • Adult body model • Scale to child size
MATLAB • FDFD code written in house • Successive Over Relaxation (SOR) method • Resolution (matrix size) determined by computing power available
MATLAB -cont’d • Results compared against published current patterns
Project Timeline • Working FDFD code - May 1, 2000 • Human model - May 28, 2000 • Preliminary results - June 27, 2000 • Simulations completed - July 30, 2000 • Write up completed - August 15, 2000
Close • Defibrillators designed for adults • Lack of research on defibrillating children • Future design changes in defibrillators
Resources • Dr. Furse • Articles - 2 so far • Web sites - none yet