Three-Dimensional Finite Element Modeling of Current Density in Maternal Transthoracic Defibrillation

A. Jeremic[1], J. Potts[2], E. Khosrowshahli[1]
[1]McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
[2]McMaster University Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Published in 2012

Although the cardiac arrest in pregnancy is a rare event it can have significant impact in terms of age of mother, mortality of unborn children and consequently long-term effect. One of the commonly used procedures in resuscitation is defibrillation. With recent advances in understanding pathophysiologies in pregnant women it became more obvious that previous studies should be extended to account for changes in maternal body. In this paper we present a simplified model for finite-element analysis of maternal defibrillation by means of COMSOL Multiphysics. In this preliminary work we propose the model in which the uterus and stomach are modeled as a single area with larger conductivity. We calculate the the current density harmonics using COMSOL AC/DC module.