As a medical professional with expertise in cardiology, I can explain the differences between cardioversion and defibrillation.
Cardioversion is a procedure used to restore the normal rhythm of a heart that is beating too fast or irregularly. It can be performed using either medication (pharmacological cardioversion) or electrical impulses (electrocardioversion). The electrical impulses are synchronized with the patient's heartbeat to avoid shocking the heart during the vulnerable period of the cardiac cycle. Cardioversion is often used for atrial fibrillation or flutter, as well as for supraventricular tachycardia (SVT).
Defibrillation, on the other hand, is an emergency procedure that delivers a high-energy shock to the heart to try to restore a normal heart rhythm, particularly in cases of ventricular fibrillation (VF) or pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT), which are life-threatening conditions. Unlike cardioversion, defibrillation does not use synchronized electrical impulses; it is a non-synchronized shock intended to depolarize the entire heart and allow a normal rhythm to be reestablished.
In summary, while both procedures involve the use of electrical impulses to treat abnormal heart rhythms, they are distinct in their application, energy levels, and the types of arrhythmias they are used to treat.
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