Treatment seen as gentler alternative to jolts delivered by
defibrillators
When a beating heart slips into an irregular,
life-threatening rhythm, the treatment is well known: deliver a burst of
electric current from a pacemaker or defibrillator. But because the electricity
itself can cause pain, tissue damage, and other serious side-effects, a Johns
Hopkins-led research team wants to replace these jolts with a kinder, gentler
remedy: light.