Lighting the Heart Back to Normal Rhythm

Cardiac arrhythmia — a wildly irregular heartbeat, can kill a person in minutes. Implantable defibrillators can provide lifesaving electrical jolts to the hearts of patients with a known risk of arrhythmia, but these shocks can be painful. Research teams in Germany and the United States have developed a potentially gentler method of stimulating a regular heartbeat: a pulse of light.

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