Citation

Panescu D, Kroll MW, Efimov IR, Sweeney JD. Conf. Proc. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Soc. 2006; 1: 1277-1279.

Affiliation

St. Jude Medical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2006.260376

PMID

17946454

Abstract

TASERs deliver electrical pulses that can temporarily incapacitate subjects. The goal of this paper is to analyze the distribution of currents in muscle layers and understand the electro-muscular incapacitation safety and efficacy of TASERs. The analyses describe skeletal muscle and motor nerve activation, cell electroporation and current and electric field distributions through skin, fat and muscle layers, under worst-case assumptions for TASER electrode penetration and separation. For the muscle layer, the analysis predicts worst-case current-density and field-strength values of 94 mA/cm(2) and 47 V/cm. Both values are higher than thresholds required for neuromuscular activation but significantly lower than levels needed for permanent cellular electroporation or tissue damage. The results indicate that TASERs are safe and effective in producing temporary subject incapacitation.

Language: en