Charge-based defibrillation method and apparatus

A defibrillator for delivering a desired quantity of therapeutic electric charge to a patient, comprising:

• a charge-delivery processor constructed and arranged to determine, as one or more intended waveform parameters and based at least in part on a predetermined electric charge table, at least one of an initial shape and initial amplitude of a waveform and to deliver a flow of current over time to the patient;
• an applied waveform generator constructed and arranged to apply a defibrillation waveform to the patient based on one or more of the one or more intended waveform parameters;
• and
• at least one sensor constructed and arranged to sense one or more values indicative of said flow,
• wherein the charge-delivery processor further is constructed and arranged to determine an adjustment, if any, to one or more of the one or more intended waveform parameters based at least in part on the sensed one or more values of the sensor.

A method for delivering a desired quantity of electric charge to a patient, comprising the steps of:

• (1) determining, as one or more intended waveform parameters, at least one of an initial shape and initial amplitude of a waveform based at least in part on a predetermined electric charge table;
• (2) generating an applied defibrillation waveform based on the intended waveform parameters;
• (3) simultaneously, sensing one or more values indicative of one or more impedances of the patient during the execution of step (2);
• (4) determining an adjustment, if any, to one or more of the one or more intended waveform parameters based at least in part on the sensed value;
• and
• (5) adjusting the applied defibrillation waveform in accordance with step (4).