Pre-pulse reduces defibrillator pain

Friday, March 30, 2001

Terry Blumenthal is not a medical device designer, but he has important information for engineers that design defibrillators. The Wake Forest University psychologist found that when a painless electric "pre-pulse" precedes the painful electric shock-similar to what one might feel when an implanted defibrillator goes off-the pre-pulse seems to lessen the body's startle response and minimize pain.

"The pre-pulse interrupts everything, including the subsequent processing of pain," says Blumenthal. "It diminishes the neural circuits' ability to respond to subsequent painful stimulus," he says.

Testing the hypothesis involved delivering 150V shocks to volunteers, who then rated shock painfulness with and without pre-pulses. Although volunteers received the same shock, its painfulness was rated lower with the pre-pulse.

"There may be a variety of ways to integrate these finding into other applications using sound, sight, and other modalities," says Blumenthal. For more information, e-mail [email protected].