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Effect Of Pentobarbital Anesthesia On Ventricular Defibrillation Threshold In Dogs, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

The effect of pentobarbital anesthesia upon the minimal voltage and current required for electrical ventricular defibrillation (the defibrillation threshold) was investigated in dogs. Threshold current, energy, and charge in five dogs averaged 2 per cent, 13 per cent, and 6 per cent less under surgical levels of pentobarbital anesthesia than thresholds in the same animals in the awake, unanesthetized state. In dogs given sufficient pentobarbital to produce apnea and supported by mechanical ventilation, threshold current, energy, and charge averaged 3 per cent, 17 per cent, and 2 per cent less than comparable awake values. These differences were far from statistically …