Kardiale Aspekte von Elektroschockdistanzwaffen

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink belowConducted electrical weapons (CEWs), such as Taser devices, have been used by special police forces in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for several years. Due to current political changes and the increasing complexity of requirements for police officers in the field, a large-scale introduction of Taser devices is currently being discussed. In this context, the medical risk assessment of this new technology plays an important role. Although there have been several hundred articles on the pathophysiological risks of CEWs published over the last years, the literature comparison of medical publications on this subject reveals a partially inconsistent picture. The present work deals with the cardiac aspects of CEWs. Using the medical database PubMed, articles published on this topic are critically evaluated and compared. According to up-to-date scientific information, it can be assumed that with the proper application of CEWs, no clinically significant pathophysiological effects on the heart are to be expected. Using CEWs following the requirements of necessity and proportionality should therefore be classified as sa