Resuscitation of the heart in ventricular standstill by external electric stimulation.

THE purpose of this report is to describe the successful use in 2 patients of a quick, simple, effective and safe method of arousing the heart from ventricular standstill by an artificial, external, electric pacemaker. For the first time it was possible to keep a patient alive during ventricular asystole lasting for hours to days. This procedure may prove valuable in many clinical situations. Cardiac standstill is a serious, usually terminal, event that rarely responds to currently employed therapeutic measures. In patients with complete heart block it may be transient, causing the Stokes-Adams syndrome. Occasionally, cardiac standstill occurs in the . . .