What are phantom shocks?

What are phantom shocks?

Shocks in this context are electrical discharges by an implanted defibrillator which discharges a transient high voltage current to reset the heart rhythm in life threatening heart rhythm disorders like ventricular fibrillation. The shock of an implanted defibrillator is felt as sudden jolt within, which is sometimes slightly painful. In some individuals who complain that they have received a shock, investigation using the device memory shows that the shock has not been delivered.

This feeling of getting a shock from the implanted cardioverter defibrillator when one has not actually been delivered is known as phantom shock. Phantom shocks usually occur in those who are too much anxious about the defibrillator shocks. Phantom shocks are different from inappropriate shocks in which the shock has been delivered for an abnormal heart rhythm for which a shock was not actually necessary like a supraventricular tachycardia an abnormal rhythm originating from the upper chambers of the heart, which could have terminated spontaneously.