Advances in defibrillation.

Purpose Of Review: The place of defibrillation in the chain of survival is paramount and this review covers advances in this aspect of resuscitation over the past 18 months.

Recent Findings: The main advance is the publication of 2010 European Resuscitation Council guidelines of which defibrillation is a key aspect. Additionally, there have been a number of important articles discussing safety issues with defibrillation, the occurrence of refibrillation following successful cardioversion, prediction of shock success and changes in transthoracic impedance with sequential defibrillation shocks.

Summary: The focus of these articles is to improve the delivery of defibrillation without interrupting chest compression and aiming to do so at an optimal stage of the resuscitation attempt.