Acute cardiac care & resuscitationRandomised controlled trial
Feasibility of early double sequential defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the double-D randomised pilot trial
- open-label, randomised controlled external pilot trial
- Swedish
- prehospital
Authors' conclusion
This is the first time that early DSD has been investigated in clinical practice. The strategy is feasible and appears to be safe. The findings have informed the design of the DoubleD main trial, powered to assess 30-day survival ( NCT07174986 ).
Study context
- Population
- Patients with OHCA who were still in cardiac arrest after at least one defibrillation in the standard (anterior-lateral) positionrandomised between June 2024 and April 2025
- Participants
- 40 patients
- Comparison
- early double sequential defibrillation (DSD) vs continued standard defibrillation
- early DSDn = 29
- standard defibrillationn = 11
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Main feasibility and safety outcomes: randomisation prior to three shocks, adherence to protocol and defibrillator malfunction
Randomised before the third defibrillation, overall
32/40 (80%)
In the DSD group, patients who still had a shockable rhythm after randomisation who received DSD
20/21 (95%)
Further findings
30-day survival
Original publication
Feasibility of early double sequential defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the double-D randomised pilot trial. Heart. Published 30 June 2026. doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2026-327905
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it